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Grey squirrel12/31/2023 Gray squirrels also move into hollow tree cavities for hibernation. They build nests high in tree canopies out of leaves and twigs. Ample populations of oaks, walnuts, and pines supply food for the rodents and help them survive harsh winter conditions. Since gray squirrels like to travel and forage almost exclusively among treetops, they prefer to live in mature forests. In some northern populations, melanism occurs and individual squirrels appear entirely black in color. They range in size from 14 to 21 inches long and weigh approximately 20 ounces. AppearanceĪs their name would suggest, gray squirrels are typically gray in color and have white undertones on their bellies and tails. However, gray squirrels are also important members of woodland ecosystems as they forage for nuts, seeds, and flower buds, which makes them vehicles of seed dispersal. They frequently take up residence in woodland areas, suburban parklands, and residential neighborhoods where they are considered nuisance pests. Gray squirrels are a species of tree squirrel predominantly found in the Eastern United States. How to Identify and Remove Gray Squirrels Description When Should You Be Concerned About Zoonotic Diseases From Nuisance Wildlife? Tab will move on to the next part of the site rather than go through menu items. Enter and space open menus and escape closes them as well. Up and Down arrows will open main level menus and toggle through sub tier links. Left and right arrows move across top level links and expand / close menus in sub levels. We know of no deleterious effect it has on any native species.The site navigation utilizes arrow, enter, escape, and space bar key commands. The native Western Gray Squirrel has disappeared from much of its former range around Puget Sound, presumably because of habitat changes and intolerance of development, and native Douglas Squirrels and Townsend’s Chipmunks have become rare in most cities, so the presence of a survivor such as this may be what we have to accept as a substitute. Many home owners consider these squirrels a nuisance when they are attracted to bird feeders, but in fact they furnish the opportunity to watch the behavior of a small mammal at length. The squirrels push the peanuts into the ground and later find them by smell. Caching behavior is well developed only in certain mammals and birds, in which it increases the odds of winter survival. Give one a succession of peanuts and watch what it does with them. Many members of the squirrel family cache seeds for later recovery, and this one is no exception. Eastern Gray Squirrel populations wax and wane with the abundance of nut crops in their native range, but this is less evident in the Northwest. They spend much time hunting for fungi, including some that are poisonous to humans. ![]() Their preferred foods include nuts of all kinds, for example acorns and beech nuts in their native range, but include other seeds, leaf buds, flowers, and the cambium layer of tree bark. These squirrels live only about a year, on average, but a few (not only the oldest but presumably the wisest) have survived as much as ten years. Some females have a second litter, mating in summer and giving birth in early fall. They stay in the nest and nurse for 8–9 weeks, when they are weaned and abandoned by their mother. Mating takes place during the winter, and two or three young are born to reproducing females during early spring. These are sleeping nests, less preferred than a tree hollow, especially as a permanent den where the young are born. The presence of Eastern Gray Squirrels is easily detected by their prominent “nests” of leaves high in trees. The deciduous trees it prefers as habitat and food sources are widely planted in Northwest cities, if not native there. And, it should be added, the introductions have been widely successful. It has been widely introduced into the region from its native range in the forests of eastern North America, the first introduction in Seattle in 1925. It is one of the most familiar mammals of the Pacific Northwest, but that was not the case a century ago. ![]() With tail, it averages about 45 cm in length. This bushy-tailed arboreal rodent is gray with rusty tinges on the face, sides, and legs, and white underparts. Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
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