Squirrely Fact #22

Squirrels are in the Sciuridae family, which means they are related to Chipmunks, Woodchucks, and Prairie Dogs.

Prairie Dogs

Woodchuck

 

Chipmunk

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Squirrely fact #21

Squirrels have 4 front teeth that are constantly growing. They have 16 teeth in the back of their mouth, 8 on the top and 8 on the bottom. In all, Squirrels have 20 teeth.

This is a skull of a Grey Squirrel.

Squirrely fact #20

Squirrels have 3 main types: Tree Squirrels, Ground Squirrels, and Flying Squirrels. These main types are broken down into many more types, such as: Albino Squirrels, Spotted Squirrels, Grey Squirrels, Red Squirrels, Fox Squirrels, Pygmy Squirrels, Northern Flying Squirrels, Arctic Ground Squirrels, Rock Squirrels, and many more. There are over 300 species of squirrels, not including all of the sub-species and whatnot. I don't actually have enough time to sit here and type them all. All of them will later be on the Weekly Squirrel.

Squirrely fact #19

Flying squirrels can "fly" for up to 90 Meters (295 Feet).

Squirrely fact #18

Squirrels may lose 25% of their buried food to thieves. Some squirrels are Scatter Hoarders, which means they hide food in multiple places to throw off thieves. They can't keep an eye on all of their food, and other squirrels and even some birds will take advantage of this.

Squirrely fact #17

Japan has Squirrel Gardens, where you can feed the squirrels and pet them with oven mitts. Don't question the oven mitts.

Squirrely fact #16

There are 44 known species of Flying Squirrels

Squirrely fact #15

Did you know squirrels can water ski? I didn't.

Don't believe me? Click the link below.

Water Skiing Squirrel

Weekly Squirrel- the Prevost's Squirrel

The Prevost's Squirrel

    This week's squirrel is... The Prevost's Squirrel(Callosciurus prevosti)!

Description

   The Prevost's Squirrel has a black back and tail. It's front arms are orangey red, while the rest of it's underside and lower face is white. The Prevost's Squirrel has also been called the Tri-colored or Ornamental Squirrel. In my opinion, they are very pretty.

Range

The Prevost's Squirrel's Range

   The Prevost's Squirrel lives in Southeast Asia. It likes lowland forests, with lots of plants and things to climb. They rarely ever touch the ground, unless they need to forage or go to another tree they cannot jump to. They have been put in a lot of zoos, and are occasionally kept as pets. 

Diet

   The Prevost's Squirrel will eat a variety of fruits, nuts, and seeds, including: Apples, sunflower seeds, bananas, pears, peanuts, insects, flowers, oranges, and grapefruits.

The Prevost's Squirrel eating part of a pear.

Behavior

   The Prevost's Squirrel loves to run around and is very agile. Like most squirrels, they are great at climbing. Their tails serve as a balance when the squirrel runs and climbs through the branches of trees. Their tails are also used to communicate social signals. They live in hollow trees or build nests of leaves and twigs high in the branches of forest trees. Usually they are not social creatures, and are only seen together during mating season, which is usually June-August. The Prevost's Squirrel usually has a litter of 1-4 babies, which are born sightless, hairless, and deaf. They leave their nest after around six weeks.

Baby Prevost's Squirrels

A Prevost's Squirrel sitting on a log

A Prevost's Squirrel in a Zoo

Squirrely fact #14

Squirrel's teeth never stop growing, so they gnaw on things so that their teeth don't grow too long.

Squirrely fact #13

Squirrels are so fast that they can move at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour!

Squirrely fact #12

Hundreds of trees are planted every year by squirrels who forget where they put their acorns.

Squirrely fact #11

Squirrels can fall about 100 feet without hurting themselves, using their tail for balance and as a parachute.

Squirrely fact #10

Squirrels have 4 toes on their front feet and 5 toes on their back feet. Their front claws are sharp and help in climbing.

Squirrely fact #9

Why can't we be friends?

This is not a fact but its adorable!

Weekly Squirrel- the American Red Squirrel

The American Red Squirrel, Sitting in a Tree

This week's squirrel is... The American Red Squirrel(Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)!

   The American Red Squirrel has many names. They have been called pine squirrels, North American red squirrels, boomers, chickarees, and fairydiddles (I don't understand that last one- hold on- apparently it's called a fairydiddle because in West Virginia the term fairy diddle refers to a near-mythic creature, and may be used for various woodland rodents. Most observers agree, however, that whatever the fairy diddle is, it is fast, smaller than the average tree squirrel, and makes a lot of noise if disturbed. This fits the description of the American Red Squirrel perfectly). The American Red Squirrel is one of the three types of tree squirrels that has a scientific name of Tamiasciurus. The others are the Douglas Squirrel and the Mearn's Squirrel. Those will be mentioned later in the Weekly Squirrels.

Description

   The American Red Squirrel differs from the Eurasian Red Squirrel in that the Eurasian species is almost totally red, while the American species has more brown on it. It is also a lot smaller than most squirrels (Although it is larger than a Chipmunk). They have a bright red tail and white circles around their eyes. 

Range

The American Red Squirrel's Range

   The American Red Squirrel lives in the upper parts of North America and Canada. They are very abundant in their range, although there is a Subspecies in Arizona that has depleted rapidly and is now endangered.

Diet

   The American Red Squirrels are known as Grainivores, meaning they eat mostly grain. One of their favorite foods is White Spruce seeds, but they also eat spruce buds and needles, mushrooms, willow leaves, poplar buds, catkins, and bearberry flowers and berries. When food is scarce, they may also eat bird eggs. White spruce cones are harvested by red squirrels in August and September. These harvested cones are stored in a central cache and provide energy and nutrients for survival over the winter and the following spring. The fallen scales from consumed seed cones can collect in piles, called middens, more than a meter across.

Behavior

   An American Red Squirrel normally makes a nest out of grass in the branches of a tree. They may also make a nest in witches broom (abnormally dense undergrowth caused by rust disease), or hollows in the trunks of spruce, walnut, and poplar trees. They rarely make a nest below ground. Each American Red Squirrel has multiple nests in it's territory, and females with young move them around different nests. 

   An American Red Squirrel's litter typically has 2-4 baby squirrels in it. The babies are hairless, blind, and deaf. They usually get their fur and sight and hearing after about a month. They come out of the nest after around 42 days, and reach full size after 125 days. They leave the nest after 70 days.

American Red Squirrel family on a fence

American Red Squirrel in it's nest

For more on this species, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_red_squirrel

Squirrely fact #8

The word "squirrel" means "shadow tail" in Greek.

Squirrely Fact #7

Squirrels can eat their own body weight (about 1.5 pounds) in a week.

Squirrely fact #6

I'm sorry I didn't post anything yesterday (Technical difficulties), but here is the next fact:

The Black Squirrel is black because of a genetic mutation that causes excessive pigmentation. This phenomenon occurs in many species, mainly the Eastern Grey Squirrel. The process of natural selection determines whether the black morph will be successful in a particular region. Most populations of Black Squirrels are found in Massachusetts.