Until recently very little was known about the genetic makeup of red squirrels populations in Wales. All that has changed, and thanks in part to funding by the Friends of the Anglesey Red Squirrels.
Recent research by Wildlife-DNA-Services of Bangor University has revealed that there is a bloodline of red squirrels that is native to Wales. These genetic types have, to date, not been found anywhere else in the UK.
Analysis of samples taken from the remains of animals collected twenty years ago from within broadleaved woodland sites on Anglesey, has shown that the island has lost much of the genetic diversity which was once present. What remains is a single haplotype (in simple terms one female bloodline) found in the Pentaeth forest population. All of the island genetic types are closley related and they also match those still found today in Mid Wales. This means that if squirrels from Mid Wales where collected and released onto Anglesey, we would be able to re-establish the historical population type.
The Bangor University team were also involved with the red squirrel reintroduction in Newborough forest. They sampled several of animals that were used in the release program, and they then created a genetic profile for each of them. This revealed that the reintroduction project would create an extremley diverse population.
The Newborough forest population is of course genetically quite distinct from the population in Pentraeth. However, the two populations are divorced from each other by 20km of largely open ground.
Download (PDF File) BBC News Report on Welsh Red Squirrel Genetics
