Sciurus carolinensis (eastern gray squirrel)

 

 

 

 Squirrels spend most of their lives in trees. They live in either cavities or nests built out of leaves.

Cavities are often old woodpecker holes.

From time to time, they have short battles with Pileated Woodpeckers.

The squirrels usually win.

 

 

Squirrels mate in the Winter, chasing females up, down, and around trees.

Males compete for the ability to mate with the female.

 

 

 

Copulation lasts less than thirty seconds.

 

 

 

They survive with their good sense of vision, smell, and hearing.

They have incredible balance,

thanks to their tail

 

 

 

 

which acts as an umbrella, a blanket,

a rudder for this excellent swimmer

and a signaling device.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hawks, owls, Red Fox, Raccoons, and snakes prey on Eastern Gray Squirrels but their extreme agility in the trees makes them difficult to capture.

 

pocket gopher and a squirrel dining together

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are members of the Rodent family

with a lifespan of about five years.

 

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