Squirrels are cute little animals that cause most people sympathy. They are found in different parts of the world, and various species are markedly different from each other! Watching them is always interesting, although they do not like the excessive attention.
Top amazing facts about squirrels
- These animals are found on all continents except Antarctica and Australia.
- Squirrels live about 7-8 years, but in the wild, this period is usually much shorter because of predators that prey on them. One of their worst enemies is owls.
- Most of the squirrel species swim well enough, but they can drown easily if their bushy tail will get wet.
- These animals always prepare a lot of caches with supplies before winter comes, but they often forget the exact location of them because of their mediocre memory, and then can’t find these caches.
- Squirrels always stockpile much more food than they can eat.
- They usually do not multiply in captivity, losing the will to live.
- The newborn squirrels have no teeth. But teeth grow throughout their life, and they have to grind them by gnawing nuts shells, wood, and other hard things. By the way, they have 4 teeth only!
- The male squirrel is able to smell the female at a distance of up to a mile.
- The world’s smallest squirrel is the African pygmy. The weight of an adult individual is about 0.5 oz (16 grams) only.
- The tail of the squirrel molts only once a year, although the rest of the body molts twice a year.
- In order to survive the winter without a hunger strike, squirrel enough 2,5-3 thousand nuts.
- A squirrel can stock up to ~100 nuts in one day, skillfully extracting them from cones.
- Even wild squirrels are quite trusting. It is possible to accustom them to take a delicacy from your hand if you’re patient enough.
- Squirrel’s tail works like a parachute when jumping, so these animals aren’t scared of falling down from a height. The tail also serves as their rudder when jumping from tree to tree.
- Squirrels aren’t vegetarians. Sometimes they ravage birds ‘ nests and even hunt other small animals such as mice and lizards.
- Newborn cubs of a forest squirrel weigh less than 0.3 oz (10 grams).