About Squirrels

Who doesn't love their cute appearance, with their fluffy tails and big eyes? This animal can be found literally all around the world, and it belongs to the same family with prairie dogs, marmots, and chipmunks. The three main categories are the tree squirrels, the ground squirrels, and the flying squirrels. More than 200 different species can be found in the big family of squirrels.

Tree squirrels can be found in woodlands as well as big city parks. They are amazing climbers, and their favorite meals include nuts, acorns, berries, and flowers. Ground squirrels, on the other hand, prefer leaves, roots, and seeds. Since they are lying around on the ground, they also tend to hunt small insects and caterpillars as well. The flying squirrels cannot actually fly, but they can extend their arms and legs and move across the sky. This type of squirrel lives more like a bird, and build nests up in the trees. Their favorite meals are also insects, flowers even small birds.

The lifespan of squirrels can significantly vary among places and different states of living. When squirrels are tend to make their nests close or inside a house, their lifespan is reduced to one year. Homeowners are doing their best to get rid of them as soon as they notice them in their homes. However, a squirrel into the wild may live up to 15 years. Therefore, the average life of a squirrel is 5 to 6 years.

Though people tend to exterminate them, the squirrels actually play an important role in nature. They are considered to be a big source of food for many other species, such as birds, foxes, weasels, wolves, and coyotes. Grey squirrel has a tendency to the tree nuts. This behavior leads to disperse tree seeds within their habitat. Squirrels are an important part of ecological environment, especially when they are born into the forest.

Squirrels are actually very vocal with each other and seek their own territory in order to look for food and breed. You can hear them during the mating season and when one squirrel wants to warn another about an upcoming predator. Each squirrel may claim up to 10 hectares of his territory. Most of squirrels' species tend to live in colonies or other small groups. However, the grey squirrel prefers a more solitary way of life.

Many people want to have a squirrel as a pet inside their homes. While it is very easy to keep your squirrel in a cage and feed him nuts and fruits, he has other important needs as well. Squirrels need to run and jump, therefore if you want a pet squirrel, you must be able to offer him many hours of playing outside the cage on a daily basis. Squirrels are remarkable creatures with a very advantage intelligence.