Animal Life - Squirrel Day

 One of the most common animals that people see on a regular basis, it's the Western gray squirrel here in the Sierra, and we saw a few on Saturday while walking in the park.

We also saw lots of acorns - a critical food for squirrels as they are high in oil and moderately high in carbs.  They make numerous caches of food, using their sense of smell and memory to locate when needed.  This scatter-hoarding contributes to seed dispersion.

Did you know?

Squirrels can turn their ankles 180 degrees while climbing, and can leap 10 times the length of their own body.

An Arctic squirrel can lower its temperature to below freezing to help survive the longest hibernation, over 8 months.

Assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Colorado State University has been studying these squirrels for the past 15 years in Alaska, and says their hibernation patterns are changing with the changing temperatures though.

"Our data shows that the active layer, the soil layer above the permafrost, freezes later in the fall, doesn't get as cold in the middle of winter, and thaws slightly earlier in the spring.  These changes, amounting to a 10 day reduction of the time soil is frozen at a meter deep, have occurred just over 25 years, which is fairly rapid."

However, squirrels are able to adapt to their environment quickly, and their populations are of least concern at this time.