Squirrels
Family: Sciuridae
Diet: Omnivore
Length: 2-3 inches to 2 feet or so
Weight: Less than half an oz to 18lbs
Location: Most places on Earth
Personality: Typically peaceful, playful and a bit naughty sometimes
Life Span: 5-10 years in the wild, 10-20 years in captivity
Squirrels are a common sight to most people. They are cute and have fluffy tails and are pretty fast climbing trees. What else do we know about them?
Diet: Omnivore
Length: 2-3 inches to 2 feet or so
Weight: Less than half an oz to 18lbs
Location: Most places on Earth
Personality: Typically peaceful, playful and a bit naughty sometimes
Life Span: 5-10 years in the wild, 10-20 years in captivity
Squirrels are a common sight to most people. They are cute and have fluffy tails and are pretty fast climbing trees. What else do we know about them?
Squirrely features
Squirrels are pretty small, though some squirrels can be as long as two feet and some as small as 2 inches, most squirrels we commonly come into contact with in our back yards in North America are about a foot long. These would be the Eastern and Western Gray Squirrels and Fox Squirrels.
Squirrels hind legs are generally longer than the front legs. They have soft pads on the bottom of their feet with about 4 or 5 toes on their feet, and of course they have that bushy tail.
Tree squirrels like the Eastern Gray can go down a tree headfirst. They are quite nimble!
Squirrels have great eyesight as well, which is great for the tree squirrels to have. They also have claws that are good at helping them climb and their tails help them balance.
Squirrels also have vibrissae, or whiskers that help them with their sense of touch.
Squirrels hind legs are generally longer than the front legs. They have soft pads on the bottom of their feet with about 4 or 5 toes on their feet, and of course they have that bushy tail.
Tree squirrels like the Eastern Gray can go down a tree headfirst. They are quite nimble!
Squirrels have great eyesight as well, which is great for the tree squirrels to have. They also have claws that are good at helping them climb and their tails help them balance.
Squirrels also have vibrissae, or whiskers that help them with their sense of touch.
Gray, Red, Black and White
Squirrels can come in quite a few colors. Usually you see gray squirrels in North America, but there are also black or melanistic squirrels, and then white or albino squirrels. There are also red squirrels, like the Eurasian Red Squirrel and the American Red Squirrel.
Melanistic means there is more melanin present than usual making the animal pretty much all black in color. Melanin give hair and skin color.
Squirrel Menu
So what do squirrels like to eat? Most of us think acorns and berries and stuff like that. Squirrels will also eat insects and small mammals sometimes, so this makes them omnivorous, which means they eat plant and animal matter.
You'll often see squirrels eating from bird feeders, which will make people irritated, but to me, if you're going to feed the birds, you should feed the squirrels too. They help us just like birds do in the way they spread seeds all over the ground, causing new trees and plants to grow.
You'll often see squirrels eating from bird feeders, which will make people irritated, but to me, if you're going to feed the birds, you should feed the squirrels too. They help us just like birds do in the way they spread seeds all over the ground, causing new trees and plants to grow.
Squirrel Babies
When squirrels have babies, they are born naked or furless and blind. This is pretty common among rodents. Squirrels are pregnant for about 3-6 weeks, depending on the type of squirrel and have about 2-4 pups. Baby squirrels nurse from their mother for about 2 months. The can have babies of their own at about their first year of life. Mothers are usually the ones to care for the young. Squirrel babies usually stay with their moms until their near 3 months old.
Squirrel Houses
So where do squirrels make their homes? Tree squirrels live in trees and ground squirrels live in underground burrows with tunnels that they build.