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Gray squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

2

Nom français: Écureuil gris

2

  • Very common in NE urban areas. This is the squirrel you see everywhere in Montreal.
  • Its fur is generally grey-brown, sometimes a little reddish. Can also be black or, more rarely, white.
  • They remain active in the winter. They find shelter in a tree cavity or a building. In the summer they build spherical nests with leaves and twigs up in the trees. If you look up as you walk down pretty much any Montreal street you will be able to see one, if not many.
  • Squirrels give birth in the spring or summer. Babies are born blind and hairless, they open their eyes after about a month. The female then agressively defends her den from other squirrels. Male squirrels have no active part in raising the young, they are also kept away from the den by the female.
  • When European settlers first arrived were extremely numerous, but as they cleared the land of trees their population dropped so dramatically that in the early 1900s there was some concern that they might become extinct.
  • They are much more social than the red squirrels, and their social group includes all squirrels with overlapping home range. There appears to be a hierarchy of dominance within the group (older dominant over younger, male dominant over female). Once the hierarchy is established there would be very little agression within the group. They will be very agressive toward immigrants coming into the area however.
  • They store nuts in the ground and will be consumed during the winter. Scent marking might play a role in finding the nuts. Little holes through the snow and soil, dug to retrieve winter nuts, are a common sign of gray squirrel activity.
  • In the summer and fall they eat flowers and fruits, insects and bird eggs, mushrooms, conifer cones. At all reason they also readily feed in garbage / compost.
  • One of the first ritual of mating is pre-chase behaviour, in which a male squirrel follows a female at a leisurely pace. This can occur for up to 5 days before begins the estrous cycle. During the "real" mating chase, males and female produce the repeated "chuck" call that sounds like a stifled sneeze.

Fontes e Créditos

  1. (c) Sandy Wolkenberg, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY), uploaded by Sandy Wolkenberg
  2. (c) Alice Roy-Bolduc, alguns direitos reservados (CC BY-SA)

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