BIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR OF SQUIRRELS

There are over three hundred and fifty varieties of squirrels, ranging from the smallest African pygmy squirrels at five inches in length to the giant Asian squirrels at over three feet in length! The squirrel family comprises approximately 40% of all mammals. The family is divided into seven sub-families, the most common of which are ground squirrels, flying squirrels and the tree squirrels. The average life span for a squirrel is 3-5 years, but some have survived as long as twenty years in captivity! Although male squirrels are notorious for chasing females all during the mating seasons (which occur between February and March and again between July and August), female squirrels are ready to mate only one day out of each season. A female can breed with up to thirty different partners in a 24-hour period!

Mother squirrels usually deliver two litters a year, with one to three babies each. Infants are born hairless, blind, and only about two inches from nose to tail. After about five weeks, the young squirrels’ eyes open for the first time. The mothers do not allow them out of the nest until they are around 10 weeks of age. At that point, they lose no time and immediately begin gathering nuts! Urban squirrels are susceptible to growing accustomed to human treats. In fact, once they are weaned on pizza, chocolate, and the like, they will reject natural foods. For example, British scientists were recently baffled to discover an entire park of squirrels who have become addicted to nicotine after chewing on littered cigarette butts! The teeth of squirrels are constantly growing throughout their lifetime. The front part of a squirrel’s tooth is made of hard enamel, while the back is made of softer dentin. This means that a squirrel’s teeth are self-sharpening! Squirrels wear down their teeth by gnawing constantly, even grinding in their sleep!

The average squirrel brain is about the size of a walnut and is considered a delicacy in the South, where it is eaten with scrambled eggs, fried and served head and all, or used in a stew called "burgoo". However, doctors in Kentucky recently warned squirrel eaters that squirrels may carry a fatal strain of "mad cow disease". As one journalist aptly stated, "When you think about it, squirrels seem a lot crazier than cows." A squirrel uses its tail as a rudder for balance, a parachute during flight, an umbrella and raincoat during the wet season, a blanket for warmth, and a flag to alert other squirrels of danger. Squirrels have been clocked in at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour. The average squirrel, however, usually scampers about at no more than 12 miles per hour.

Squirrels occasionally find their bushy tails tangled in knots, even elaborate braids, with the tails of other squirrels who share their nests. Groups of confused squirrels (and other rodents) have been discovered in this condition periodically since the early 1800s. If you find a group of such unfortunate squirrels, contact a wildlife rehabilitator immediately. Frantic to free themselves, squirrels have been known to try to gnaw through their own tails, so don't delay! Sometimes the squirrels' tails become entangled because of tree sap, which essentially acts as a glue. In addition, this happens when people leave twine, fishing line and other strings around their yards. A mother squirrel will incorporate these materials into her nest, and the tails become entangled with the twine or string. Wildlife rehabilitators who find squirrels in this condition often have to amputate the tails because the string is so entangled in the tails. So please don't leave string-like substances in your yard!

Grey squirrels are able to eat countless acorns without becoming ill, although acorns contain polyphenols (commonly known as "tannic acid") and are poisonous to humans. Grey squirrels produce a special digestive enzyme which protects them from the tannic acid. However, red squirrels are not immune and can become fatally ill from eating too many acorns. Currently, red squirrels are nearly extinct in Great Britain, as the remaining few compete with aggressive grey squirrels for non-poisonous nuts. Although ground squirrels hibernate for months at a time (some mountain varieties are only awake three months of the year), tree squirrels stay active during the winters. To survive the frigid temperatures, squirrels subsist on buried nuts and keep warm in groups (sometimes of a dozen or more) in their nests. Squirrels can sniff out an acorn through a foot of snow!

Squirrels can be considered pre-historic animals. The oldest known fossilized squirrel skeleton is over fifty million years old! The word "squirrel" derives from the Greek words "skia", which means "shadow", and "oura", which means "tail". The Greeks understood "squirrel" to mean "a creature that sits in the shadow of its tail." According to ancient Scandinavian legend, the squirrel dwells in the Tree of Life and is symbolic of all the bad luck and trouble that happens in our lives! Grey squirrels were introduced into England by the Victorians, who thought that the sprightly rodents livened up their lush gardens and imported them from faraway countries. Squirrels arrived in America from England as stowaways on Pilgrim ships. Historians have since marvelled at their remarkable survival skills, as squirrels have adapted and thrived all over North America. Early Cherokee Indians believed that eating squirrel meat would cause rheumatism. This belief was based on of the squirrel's flexible spine, which gives it an appearance of poor posture! Other native American tribes believed that eating squirrel meat while sowing nut-bearing plants would bring bad karma and cause the crop to die.

In the late 18th century, the squirrel population in Ohio ballooned to uncontrollable numbers. In 1791, squirrels invaded the territory around the town of Belpre after that year's acorn crop failed to sustain their appetites. After eating the Belpre settlers' entire corn crop, the squirrels (which are not especially known for their aquatic prowess) swam across the Ohio River en masse and began devouring West Virginia! In Scotland at the end of the eighteenth century, red squirrels were nearly extinct because of woodland clearance and severe winters. In 1844, Lady Lovat of Scotland persuaded government officials to reintroduce the lovely creatures in the Highlands. The squirrels multiplied rapidly and began migrating outward. Angered by the damage the squirrels caused to the woodlands, a Highland Squirrel Club was formed with the sole mission to hunt, trap, poison and kill the unpopular squirrels. Over 100,000 red squirrels were killed at the insistence of the club, which provided financial incentives for locals who

brought in squirrel tails. Ironically, Scotland now faces one of the greatest squirrel crises in world history: the desperate endangerment of red squirrels. By the early 1800s, Ohio pioneers organized squirrel hunts to keep the squirrel population down to manageable numbers. By 1810, it was not uncommon for hunters to kill 2,000 squirrels per hunt. The largest squirrel massacre occurred in Franklin County, taking the lives of 19,600 squirrels.

On April 6, 1903, large numbers of red and grey squirrels were shipped from Texas and Colorado into the small midwestern town of Hinsdale, Illinois. The arrival of the squirrels culminated the efforts of village president and local banker Deming Preston, who argued before the village board that the bushy-tailed rodents should be proclaimed a protected species and the town should begin a crusade to repopulate its territory with squirrels. Today, April 6 is celebrated as Squirrel Day in Hinsdale. Locals traditionally lay out gourmet nutty delicacies on their doorsteps for their beloved squirrels. In the 1940s, six black squirrels were smuggled into the town of Glendale, Ohio by Tom Carruthers III, who thought they were beautiful creatures. Of the six, one was skinned and kept as a trophy in a local tavern. The remaining five set to populating Glendale. The town is now one of a only a handful of areas in the world with a significant black squirrel population, and the lovely rodent has been crowned Glendale’s official mascot. During the 1960s, the North Carolina legislature approved a bill to make squirrel the official state mammal. During consideration of the bill, Representative Basil Barr argued: "The grey squirrel is thrifty. He buries nuts." To which Representative Henry Boshamer wryly replied, "Any animal that buries nuts would be dangerous to this General Assembly."

The most densely squirrel-populated area in the world is Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. where surrounding offices pooled together resources in the 1960s to provide a constant supply of peanuts for their furry neighbors. However, the squirrel population has caused problems with plant life and traffic, and federal authorities have periodically attempted to trap and relocate large numbers of squirrels to other Washington area parks. While in the Oval Office, President Dwight Eisenhower despised the squirrels that grazed on the White House lawn. Eisenhower ordered federal officials to trap the bushy-tailed creatures and deport them in bagfuls in order to protect his private golf course. Angry protestors drove by the White House and unleashed squirrels onto the property to irk the anti-squirrel President. President Ronald Reagan was well-known for his love for the squirrels that shared the White House lawn. Reagan frequently brought back acorns from Camp David for his furry friends and once commissioned a local artist to paint a squirrel scurrying across the White House for that year’s presidential Christmas card. In one of his final interviews, Reagan reflected on his fondness for squirrels when asked about his experiences living in the White House. Princess Diana was extremely fond of the squirrels which made their home at Kensington Palace. The princess frequently scattered nuts with Princes William and Harry for the royal rodents. Shortly after her death in 1997, five dozen squirrels were found drowned in the Kensington Palace pool, allegedly by royal gardeners who were glad to finally rid the grounds of the pesky rodents. An investigation by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Animals turned up empty. Squirrels have been blamed for causing at least one confirmed stock market crash and a Miss America Pageant disaster in the United States, as well as precipitating countless fires and power outages which have left entire cities without electricity for days. For example, New York City officials claim that squirrels cause at least one power outage every day!