Squirrels at the Feeder

I have been interested in flying squirrels ever since watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle show as a kid.  I did a little research and discovered  that there are 43 species of flying squirrels in the world. Most of these can be found in Asia, and only two (Northern and Southern) are native to the United States of America.

Flying squirrels are fascinating creatures and are distinct from their non-flying family members in several ways.  Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about flying squirrels!

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Sugar Gliders and Flying Squirrels are both cute little animals that are popular pets.  Sugar gliders look remarkably similar to the flying squirrels found in the US but in reality, these two animals are extremely different.  Let’s take a quick look at the differences between these two species.

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When I first started writing these squirrel articles I kept getting confused when I was reading about red squirrels.  I was seeing contradictory information about these things and was having a hard time understanding why some people are highly passionate about them.

And then I figured it out.

It turns out that there are three different types of squirrels that are commonly referred to as “Red Squirrels” and there are significant differences between them. [Read more…]

When people are trying to learn about squirrels they often get confused by all of the different names.  A squirrel will often have multiple common names and those names will often overlap with the common names of other species of squirrels.  For example, in the US there are three distinct species of tree squirrels that are called “Gray Squirrels” (Eastern, Western and Arizona).

Another point of confusion is that the squirrel family encompasses many more creatures than just the common tree squirrels that we see in our backyards.  It turns out that creatures as diverse as chipmunks and groundhogs are also technically considered to be squirrels!

After you sort through all of the confusion and add up all of the different types of squirrels in the world you will find that there are 289 different species!

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Squirrels have an admirable level of resistance against cold weather and some species survive in sub-degree weather. But how do they do this? How do their bodies respond as the temperature drops? Do they rely on layers of fat like most other mammals for warmth or are there other ways that allow them to survive?

As per the usual, my curiosity got the better of me and I ended up reading about how do squirrels survive in winter. Here’s what I found:

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My wife and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday.  Vegas was a hoot but we also took some time to skip out of town and do a little hiking in some nearby state parks. My wife had a great time hiking the trails…I had a great time looking for squirrels!

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My yard is full of Eastern grey squirrels, so when I heard movement and scratching in the attic late one night, my first thought was – could it be a squirrel? I mean as interesting as I find them, I don’t want these guys living in my house!  So anyway, long story short, it wasn’t a squirrel that I heard. It was rats.

That really sucked but is another story.

That whole adventure got me wondering about what squirrels do in the evening.  The big question of course was, “Are squirrels nocturnal?” I did a little research and this is what I learned.

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