25 Interesting Facts about Squirrels

Apart from being cute and adorable, there are more things that we should know about squirrels in order to fully appreciate them. These interesting facts are laid out in this article. Enjoy reading!

1. Squirrels run in an erratic path whenever they cross a street. Experts say that their movement is supposed to confuse incoming vehicles and thus avoid being hit. However, this choice has been proven to be one of the squirrel's poorest choices because it obviously increases their chance of getting hit.

2. For some reason, when a squirrel feels insecure or when it feels that danger is approaching, it pretends to be a motionless object and completely stay still. If this sense of danger happened while the squirrel in on the ground, it will run to the nearest tree, climb up and circle its whole body around a branch. But if it is far from anything that can be climbed, it will roll on the ground trying to pretend that it is a rock.

3. Grey squirrels build their nests in very unusual places. Many grey squirrels have been found to build a nest inside cars, chimneys, porches and barbeque grills.

4. Squirrels blame their nests for the fleas and the other parasites that infest its body. Thus, squirrels tend to leave their nests and build a new one whenever infestation happens. This is the reason why is a specific area, one can be sure that the number of squirrel nests always exceeds the actual number of squirrels.

5. Squirrels mark their territories using their sweat. This is not much of a trouble for squirrels because their sweat glands are found between their paws and foot pads. So, wherever they go, squirrels are surely able to leave their scent without even trying. Their scent is used to mark the boundaries of their territories.

6. Squirrels follow a specific way of storing their nuts. First, they crack it using their teeth and then lick the nut clean using its tongue before it buries the "cleaned" nut on the ground where it becomes "dirty" again. But the licking is not actually for cleaning purposes; squirrels do that in order to leave a strong smell to the nut so that it becomes easier for it to locate it. Squirrels use their noses to locate buried nuts instead of using their memories.

7. Trapping is the only effective way to remove squirrels that live inside attics.

8. Squirrels chirp like bird. Chirping is their way of talking to other squirrels. Their chirp is let out in a frequency that ranges from 0.01 to 10 KHz. This sound is used to send their messages, from sending alarms to mating and laughing. They also use other actions to accompany the chirp; such actions include tail movements and scratching.

9. An adult squirrel has to eat about half a kilogram of food each week to stay active.

10. Squirrels have brains those measures about a walnut size only. But despite this size, squirrels are able to exhibit intelligence in their lifestyle.

11. Just like how we sharpen kitchen knives, squirrels sharper their teeth by rubbing it on a specific material. Knives are sharpened using a sharpening stone while squirrels' teeth are sharpened through branch chewing. This might be the reason why they strip tree barks. However, squirrels sometimes mistaken a power line to a branch causing power outages in some places.

12. Grey squirrels can't live without salt in their diet. So, they look for salt deposited in snow or ice.

13. Squirrels will eat animal carcasses when no other food is available.

14. Squirrels can see a wide field in a panoramic view. They do not have to turn their heads just like other animals.

15. Tree squirrels do not hibernate even when the temperature around them is freezing cold! Other squirrels sleep for the entire season as they consume the layers of fats that they have stored before winter came.

16. Squirrels love the morning sun. They are active for 2-3 hours after the sun has risen, rests after that period and then resume whatever activities that they need to do 2 hours before the sun is gone. Squirrels rarely come out of their nests when it is already dark. However, when the season is cold like when it is in winter and the squirrel is not hibernating like the tree squirrels, they will do all activities in the morning and would lock inside their dens from midday until the next morning.

17. Contrary to its name, the Red squirrels are commonly black.

18. Grey squirrels are not necessarily grey. They can come in many different colors such as brown, white, black or the combination of any of these.

19. Baby squirrels are called Kits and they weigh about 1 oz. during birth and measures about 1 inch in length. They are naked, toothless and are almost blind. They need 8 weeks to appear like a real squirrel.

20. Female squirrels prefer the strongest male that will court her for mating. But female squirrels do not mate the same male twice!

21. Squirrel gestation lasts for 30 to 60 days depending on the species. chickarees take 31 days while fox squirrels need 60 days.

22. There are more than 365 species of squirrels known to mankind. These squirrels are grouped into 7 families. The most common families are called the tree squirrels, the ground squirrels and the flying squirrels. There are squirrels that hardly look like squirrels like the ground hog, prairie dogs and the gophers.

23. Male squirrels chase female squirrels which they want to mate with. They will also try to chase out the other suitors who are interested to mate with their target female squirrels. The mating ritual is an excellent site if you happen to catch squirrels doing it! Males would perform amazing acrobatics in order to please the female.

24. Female Red Squirrels are known to be promiscuous. They can mate up to 14 different males a day without minding! They also welcome any male who comes their way.

25. Squirrels are part of the big order called "Rodentia" which includes rats and mice. This order has 1650 species and is in fact the largest order of living mammals. About 40% of all day mammals belong to "Rodentia".