Red Squirrel
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
(belongs to a group of tree squirrels known as the pine squirrels)
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Tamiasciurus
Description - rusty-red coloration on upper body and tail, whitish belly, has a white band circling a black eye, tail is less bushy than other tree squirrels, has prominent ear tufts in winter.
Habitat - coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests.
Food habits - eats and stores a wide variety of seeds, cones and nuts such as pine cones, acorns, sunflower seeds, maple seeds. Stores food in large piles of food underground, at the base of trees, under logs. Also eats fruits and berries, fungi, bark, buds, insects, eggs, young birds, mice, tree sap.
Behavior - diurnal animals that are most active in the early morning and late afternoon, are active year round except in severe winter weather, are solitary, use tree cavities or hollows as nest sites, may use underground tunnels during winter in northern climates.
Reproduction - litters are born in a lined den or tree hollow in late winter and mid-summer. In northern climates there may only be one litter born in late winter. Litters may have 1 to 8 young which are born hairless and blind. The young are fed milk by the mother for 7 to 8 weeks and leave the nest after 18 weeks.