There are 50 different kinds of squirrels. North America has red and grey squirrels. There are 3 types of squirrels: flying, tree, and ground sqirrels. The male grey squirrel is 20 inches long from the tip of it's tail to the tip of its nose. The red squirrel is half the length of its tail. The grey squirrel is much bigger then the red squirrel. Sometimes a grey squirrel can have reddish or black fur. The red squirrel has red and brown fur. The unique thing about the squirrels are, that red squirrels can jump or fall about 150 feet without getting hurt. The squirrels think jumping 30 feet is normal. If it is too far to jump, they get off the tree and walk. If they sense danger squirrels leap to the nearest tree.Squirrels have excellent eye sight, so they can measure how far to jump from tree to tree. In the winter squirrels grow fur on their paws to help them grip icey or wet branches.
A squirrel's neighbors are a red deer, a capercaillie, a pine beauty moth, a cross bill, a wood ant , a siskin, and an eyed lady bug.
A squirrel's favorite food is:bark, pine cones, tree sap, seeds, grass, nuts, leaves, fruit, and other plant materal. If squirrels can't find those foods they would eat birds, birds' eggs, small snakes, small lizards, and insects. Squirrels bury their food for after winter. Squirrels must watch out for foxes, wolves, racoons, pine martens, lynx, skunks, humans, weasels, and some kinds of hawks and owls.
After winter 2-4 male squirrels chase one female squirrel to mate with her. Red squirrels have 3-8 baby squirrels. They breed twice a year, Jan.-Mar. and July-Sept.They have to wait 11 months until the babies come. I hope you had fun learning about squirrels!
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