Information to SINK your teeth into and CHATTER about !
The image of a squirrel appears on the family crest of Baldwin, Lee, Samuels and Chambers in England and Europe.The crest denotes family identity.The image of the squirrel stands for retirement or retreat into a forest.
Ratatosk is a squirrel in Norse mythology that scurries up and down Yggdrasil ( the sacred tree) stirring up trouble.He was also a messenger for Odin, bringing him reports of the human world.
Early Christian Art occasionally included images of squirrels to emphasize an aphorism or moral. One such painting of St Jerome depicts a squirrel using the protection of its tail to endure a harsh storm.The inscription reads “Durabo,et quondam res expectado secunda Quamis nuc male sit,non male simper erit”(I shall endure and expect once again more favorable things however bad it is now,it won’t be bad forever.)
Passamaquoddy an Algonquin tribe refers to Miko ( squirrel ) as being larger in size than a bear
The Kwakiutl tribe of the Vancover region fed their male infants pieces of squirrel hearts to pass along the squirrel’s the powers of speed and agility
Scientists have recently determined that squirrel brains, a Southern delicacy, may harbor Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Weight Watchers lists “squirrel” as being ONLY ONE POINT!
Among the Cherokee tribe squirrel meat was off the menu for those afflicted with rheumatoid like conditions.This was because squirrels eat in a hunched position and that this ‘energy” would be passed on .
Here is something to sink your teeth into In Japan, the ancient Ainu culture believed squirrel meat was a cure for infertility and was also sought after for people needing new teeth.
Endangered and threatened species in the US(
USFW 2002 report)
E- Carolina Northern Flying squirrel( glaucomys sbarinus coloratus)
E- Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel ( Glaucomys Sabrinus Fuscus)
T- Northen Idaho Ground Squirrel ( Spermophilus brunneus brunneus)
E- Mount Graham Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis)
E- Delmarva Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger cinereus)
Cecil Rhodes first introduced the gray squirrel into South West Cape in South Africa in 1900
carolinensis is a latinized word of or from Carolina,the American colony where it was first observed by Europeans.
The first published record of sciurus carolinensis was in 1788 by J.F. Gmelin.This scientific name has remained despite several synonymous variations such as sciurus pennslylvanica ( Guthrie ,1815) sciurus hiemalis (Guthrie,1815)) sciurus leucotis (Gapper 1830) sciurus fuliginous (Bachman,1839).In 1849,Audubon was one of several naturalists who called this the migratory squirrel,( sciurus migratorius)in reference to its tendency for mass migrations.
Gray squirrels are the only tree squirrels to emigrate.
Such events are most likely represent widespread localized dispersal due to
autumn food shortages when they occur. Documentation of mass emigrations have been noted over the years.
One of the few groups of mammals aside from the primates and a few other species that can see color, particularly red and green ( Macdonald 1992)however they can discriminate red or green from blue but not red from green-similar to humans with red-green color blindness. Humans have trichromatic color vision
Eyes are set wide apart on either side of their head-Compromised depth perception yet magnificent field of vision
The lens in the eye of a young gray squirrel deepens in color as it matures and serves as a yellow filter when reaching adulthood.Flying squirrels have colorless lenses.
Gray squirrels can see in low light such as early dawn and dusk due to their unique rod like receptors in their retina.
Under stress, gray squirrel eyes will protrude, which increases its field of vision
Gray squirrel can see above and below with little head movement, an adaptation to increase its chance of survival against birds of prey and ground stalking predators
Gray squirrels have the least developed olfactory sense of all the squirrels Followed by the fox squirrel, then red squirrel and finally the eastern chipmunk, which scored the highest.
Gray squirrels ears can be furled, laid flat or extended to stand up 3/4 inch above the hairs on its scalp.
Lack canine teeth
Upper and bottom incisors will grow continuously throughout a squirrel's life
A young gray squirrel will lose its first set of upper premolars referred to as milk teeth and are replaced by permanent molars when the squirrel reaches 6-12 months of age.( Gurnell)
A gray squirrel uses its tongue to eject debris such as nut shells from its mouth
Gray squirrel's hind feet can rotate 180 degrees to climb down a tree headfirst
Gray squirrels have curved black claws present at birth An adaptation that allows them later to hang from limbs upside down to gather leaves and food.
The General Assembly of 1969 designated the Gray Squirrel as the official State Mammal of North Carolina
Melanistic (black) forms of the eastern gray occur more often in the northern part of the gray squirrel's range.
"Black Squirrel City "is in Marysville, Kansas and a high concentration (50%)of black fox squirrels can be seen
Melanistic gray
squirrels of the Washington DC area owe their existence to two shipments
of black squirrels from Ontario being released in the National Zoological Park
in 1906. It appears that the dark pelage gives them an advantage over the gray
winter coats of the normal squirrels in winter through energy savings due to the
additional absorbed solar heat (lower heat loss and lower basal metabolic
rates).
High concentrations of White squirrels ( albino and albinistic) can be found in cities such as Exeter Ontario, Olney, Illinois, Kenton ,Tennessee and Brevard ,North Carolina
The gray squirrel heart beats 150-450 BPM. ( E Smith and Johnson 1984)The NA red squirrel the range is 336-372 BPM (mean 352 BPM) (Fowlers)
A squirrel's tail comprises @ 40% of its body.
After a gestation period of 45 days, young grey squirrels are born. The size of the litter varies from one to six but average is two to four.
Vibrissae ( whiskers ) are always black
A gray squirrel's body temperature is 92-102 degrees F
Squirrels will store their food-a common practice for members of more than 29 other families of mammals,15 families of birds and 20 families of arthropods ( Vander Wall 1990)
Gray squirrels practice scatter- hoarding ,placing single food items at different locations.Pine squirrels practice larder hoarding where they store all their food items at one site-the midden.
Gray squirrels do not strongly defend their buried food. Pine squirrels will.
Finding their hidden food depends primarily on their sense of smell. Weather conditions affecting the soil positively ( moist) or negatively ( dry ) will have an effect.
ulnar vibrissae located on the underside of the wrist appear to be used to detect tree limbs when squirrels need to run fast among the trees
sciurus- latin for squirrel-derived from
ancient Greek
skia- meaning shadow or shade
oura meaning tail--combination-shadetail.
The tail possess a bundle of nerve endings at the base that enable heat to be retained in the body or dissipated ( muchlinski and Skump 1979; Thorington 1966
The female raises her offspring alone- a single mom
The largest squirrel in the world is the Ratufa ( ratufa indica) alo known as the Indian giant squirrel.Found in parts of Nepal and Asia this species can grow to three feet in length.
At 2.5 inches the smallest squirrel is the African Pygmy ( myosciurus pumilio) found in Southwestern Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon
With the exception of Australia and New Zealand squirrels are found most every part of the world.
A FISHY tail ! In Florida a largemouth bass( micropterus salmoides )was found with an adult gray squirrel in its stomach
Female gray squirrels have longer inner ear ossicles ( small bones) than males (Daniel and Roberson,1987)
Nature is
not perfect gray squirrel with 7 toes/foot have been reported
( Dunaway 1969 )
Females tend to consume more food than males ( Short and Duke 1971 )
Mother
squirrel will carry her offspring by the belly and not the scruff of the neck
The soft underside fur of the baby's
belly is where mother will gently yet confidently carry her offspring when
necessary.
Shake, RATTLE an Roll An adult squirrel was HOMEd from the stomach of a timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) Stupka,A. 1935 - 63. Nature Journal, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Senior citizen squirrel-A female gray squirrel in north Carolina lived and reproduced into her twelth year( Barkalow and Soots 1975)
Caching of seeds and nuts ensure tree generation. Nuts are buried separately, about 1/4" to an inch deep and are recovered by any squirrel that may smell them (one study found 85% of buried nuts were found over the winter). Nuts buried by scientists were recovered at the same rate as nuts buried by the squirrels, indicating that memory is not involved in nut recovery.
Due to the extraordinary amount of tannins in their systems the gray and fox squirrels by acorn digestion, are unusual in rarely having either tapeworms or roundworms, which is a deadly poison to these parasites
License to kill
State
game
species with 40 million "harvested" each year in the US. In
Kentucky, an average of 1,309,000 gray and fox squirrels were taken annually
from 1964 to 1971.