A message about the common squirrel. Squirrels reproduction and lifestyle
This is a small animal with a typical squirrel appearance, with an elongated slim body and a fluffy tail with a comb. The length of its body is 19.5-28 cm, the tail is 13-19 cm (about 2/3 of the body length); weight 250-340 g. The head is rounded, with large black eyes. The ears are long, with tufts, especially pronounced in winter period. Sensitive vibrissae grow on the muzzle, front legs and belly. The hind limbs are noticeably longer than the forelimbs. Fingers with tenacious sharp claws. The hair on the sides of the tail reaches a length of 3-6 cm, which is why the tail has a flattened shape.
The squirrel's winter fur is tall, soft and fluffy, while its summer fur is coarser, sparse, and short. In terms of color variability, the squirrel holds one of the first places among the animals of the Palaearctic. Its color changes seasonally, among subspecies, and even within the same population. In summer, it is dominated by red, brown or dark brown tones; in winter - gray and black, sometimes with a brown tint. The abdomen is light or white. There are melanistic squirrels with completely black fur and albino squirrels, as well as piebald squirrels whose fur is covered with white spots. Based on the winter color of their tail, squirrels are divided into “red-tailed”, “brown-tailed” and “black-tailed”. Gray tail squirrels are found in the steppe forests of Western Siberia.
The size of squirrels decreases from mountainous to lowland regions, the size of the skull decreases from south to north, and the color becomes lighter towards the center of the range. The black and brown tones of winter fur in the Carpathian, Far Eastern and Manchurian subspecies are replaced by bluish and ash-gray, most pronounced in teledut squirrels. At the same time, the area of the white area of the abdomen increases in the same direction and the percentage of “redtail” increases.
The squirrel sheds 2 times a year, with the exception of the tail, which sheds once a year. Spring molting occurs mainly in April-May, and autumn molting occurs from September to November. The timing of molting strongly depends on food and meteorological conditions of a given year. In good years, molting begins and ends earlier; in bad years, it is greatly delayed and extended. The spring molt goes from the head to the root of the tail; autumn - in reverse order. Adult males begin to molt earlier than females and young of the year. Molting in squirrels, like in all other mammals, is caused by a change in length daylight hours, which affects the activity of the pituitary gland. Thyroid-stimulating hormone secreted by the pituitary gland affects activity thyroid gland, under the influence of the hormone which causes molting.
The squirrel is a typical forest inhabitant. Since the basis of its nutrition is seeds tree species, it prefers mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, which provide the best feeding conditions. He also loves mature dark coniferous plantations - cedar forests, spruce forests, fir trees; they are followed by larch forests, thickets of dwarf cedar and mixed pine forests. In the north, where mainly pine and larch woodlands grow, its population density is low. In Crimea and the Caucasus she mastered cultural landscapes: gardens and vineyards.
The lifestyle is predominantly arboreal. A squirrel is a living, active animal. She easily jumps from tree to tree (3-4 m in a straight line and 10-15 m in a downward curve), steering with her tail. During the snowless period, as well as during the rut, it spends significant time on the ground, where it moves in leaps up to 1 m long. In winter, it moves mainly “on top.” When there is danger, it hides in trees, usually hiding in the crown. Active in the morning and evening hours, spending 60% to 80% of this time searching for food. In the middle of winter, it leaves the nest only for feeding time, and in very coldy and hides in the nest during bad weather, falling into a half-asleep state. Not territorial; individual areas are weakly expressed and overlap.
Large migrations of squirrels are mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles. Sometimes they are caused by drought and forest fires, but more often by failure of the main food crop - seeds coniferous trees and nuts. Migration occurs in late summer and early autumn. Most often, squirrels migrate close to another forest area; but sometimes they make long and long migrations - up to 250-300 km. The nomadic squirrel travels in a wide front (sometimes 100-300 km) alone, without forming significant flocks or aggregations, except near natural obstacles. During migrations, it enters the forest-tundra and tundra, appears in steppe regions, swims across rivers and even sea bays, penetrates islands, crosses bare mountain peaks, and even enters populated areas. At the same time, many animals drown, die from hunger, cold and predators.
In addition to mass migrations, the squirrel is characterized by seasonal migrations associated with the successive maturation of food and the transition of young animals to an independent lifestyle. The young settle in August-September and October-November, sometimes moving 70-350 km from the nesting stations. If there is no food, seasonal movements can turn into migrations. In this case, some of the adult individuals remain in place; from their usual food they switch to low-calorie foods high in fiber (buds, lichens, pine needles, bark of young shoots). It is due to this group that the local population is then restored.
The squirrel's diet is very diverse and includes more than 130 types of food, the bulk of which are seeds of coniferous trees: spruce, Scots pine, Siberian cedar, fir, larch. In the southern regions, where oak forests grow with an undergrowth of hazel, it feeds on acorns and hazelnuts. In addition, the squirrel consumes mushrooms (especially the deer truffle), buds and shoots of trees, berries, tubers and rhizomes, lichens, herbaceous plants. Their share in the diet increases markedly when the main feed crop fails. Very often, during a food shortage, the squirrel intensively eats spruce flower buds, causing damage to these plantings. During the breeding season, it does not disdain animal food - insects and their larvae, eggs, chicks, small vertebrates. After wintering, the squirrel willingly gnaws on the bones of dead animals and visits salt licks. The daily amount of food depends on the season: in the spring, during the rut, the squirrel eats up to 80 g per day, in winter - only 35 g.
What the squirrel does for the winter small stocks acorns, nuts, cones, dragging them into hollows or burying them among the roots, and also dries mushrooms, hanging them on branches. True, she quickly forgets about her warehouses and finds them by chance in winter, which is used by other animals - birds, small rodents, even a brown bear. At the same time, the squirrel itself uses the reserves of other animals (chipmunk, nutcracker, mice), which it easily finds even under a 1.5 m layer of snow.
Squirrels are very prolific. In most of the range they produce 1-2 litters, in the southern regions - up to 3. The Yakut squirrel usually has only 1 litter per year. Breeding season, depending on the latitude of the area, feeding conditions and population density, begins in late January - early March and ends in July - August. During the rut, 3-6 males stay near the female and demonstrate aggression towards competitors - they purr loudly, hit branches with their paws, and run after each other. After mating with the winner, the female builds a brood nest (sometimes 2-3); it is neater and larger in size.
Pregnancy lasts 35-38 days, in a litter of 3 to 10 cubs; in the second litter less. Newborn squirrels are naked and blind, weighing about 8 g. Hairline They appear on the 14th day, they begin to see clearly only on the 30-32nd day. From this moment they begin to leave the nest. They are fed with milk for up to 40-50 days. At the age of 8-10 weeks they leave the mother. Sexual maturity is reached at 9-12 months. Having raised the first litter, the female fattens up somewhat and mates again. The interval between broods is about 13 weeks. In October-November, the squirrel population consists of 2/3, and sometimes 75-80%, of young-of-the-year squirrels.
In captivity, squirrels live up to 10-12 years, but in nature, a squirrel over 4 years old is already old. The proportion of such animals at the most favorable conditions does not exceed 10%. In areas with intensive squirrel hunting, the population is completely renewed in 3-4 years. The mortality rate of young animals is especially high - 75-85% of baby squirrels do not survive their first winter.
Coccidiosis, tularemia, hemorrhagic septicemia; they have common
Goals:
Expand and clarify children's knowledge about proteins. Enrich children's existing knowledge with new information. Introduce the riddle about the squirrel and the proverbs: “If you put it further away, you will take it closer,” “A cat’s cat is also a child.” Vocabulary: nimble, cocky, businesslike, scandalous. Continue to teach how to solve riddles and pretend to guess the answers. Cultivate interest in the nature of your native land.
Equipment:
Pictures and photographs of squirrels, equipment for applique practice.
Squirrel
Squirrel
Progress of the lesson:
There are many animal and bird reserves in the forest in the fall. What birds and animals do you know that make storage rooms for the winter? (Children's answers). Today we will talk about just such an animal. Listen to the riddle about him:
Riddle about the squirrel
From branch to branch,
Fast as a ball
Jumping through the forest
Red-haired circus performer.
Here he is on the fly
I picked the cone,
Jumped on the trunk
And he ran into the hollow.
What in the riddle made you think of a squirrel? (Children's answers).
The squirrel makes substantial reserves for the winter - in different places, different stocks, a lot. He collects nuts in a very cunning way. He swings the branch, jumps to the side and looks. Whichever branch swings longer is heavier, which means there are more nuts on it. The squirrel climbs onto this branch and bites off the nuts. He will immediately recognize an empty or spoiled nut and will never take it for anything. The squirrel also stores a lot of mushrooms for the winter. And he chooses the very best. Dries squirrels and fly agarics, presumably medicinal purposes. It hides dried mushrooms in hollows or under bark that has fallen from trees. For mushrooms, the squirrel will then eat only the cap and throw away the stem. In addition to mushrooms and nuts, the squirrel stores acorns for the winter. Acorns - what tree are they from? (Children's answers). From oak.
But this is how a squirrel hides its prey: it digs a hole and carefully puts the prey in it. He will drive it deeper, and then rake up more earth and dry leaves on top so that no one else can smell it. You never know winter forest beggar animals are wandering around. “If you put it further away, you’ll take it closer.” How do you understand this proverb? (Children's answers).
It happens that strangers eat squirrel supplies. But the squirrel itself, if it comes across someone else’s supplies in winter, will not be shy and will eat them. Some of the reserves will remain uneaten. This will benefit the forest: in the spring they will take root and sprout.
This is how M. Prishvin wrote about the squirrel in his story "Squirrel Memory"
“Today, looking at the tracks of animals and birds in the snow, this is what I read from these tracks: a squirrel made its way through the snow into the moss. I took out two nuts hidden there since the fall and ate them right away - I found the shells. Then she ran ten meters away, dived again, again left a shell on the snow and after a few meters made a third climb. What kind of miracle? It’s impossible to think that she could smell the nuts through a thick layer of snow and ice. This means that since the fall she remembered her nuts and the exact location between them. But the most amazing thing is that she could not measure, like us, with centimeters, but directly by eye she determined with precision, dived and reached. Well, how could one not envy the squirrel’s memory and ingenuity!”
Let's play with our fingers a little.
Finger gymnastics “Squirrel”
The squirrel jumped, jumped,
(Children spread their fingers)
By winter, the pantries were filled with:
(Begin to bend all fingers in turn, touching the pads of the corresponding palm).
Here are nuts, here is a mushroom
For sons and daughters.
At the end of autumn, the squirrel will change its coat from red to gray. Why do you think? Who else changes their fur coat for winter? (Children's answers).
When severe frosts set in, you won’t see the squirrel. She can curl up in a ball and sleep for several days.
In addition to supplies, the squirrel likes to eat pine cones in winter. Having picked a cone, the squirrel settles down somewhere in a fork among the branches. It holds the cone in its front paws, bites off the scales of the cone with its teeth and takes out the fatty seeds with its lips.
If the winter is harsh and long, the squirrel eats bark, young shoots, and buds. He cuts off a twig with his teeth and, holding it in his paws, bites off its bark and buds. The object will be thrown down and taken up with a new one. But this food is not filling; proteins starve with this diet.
But in the summer, the squirrel’s diet is varied with the larvae of various insects, ant and bird eggs, and, on occasion, chicks, as well as berries, fruits, willow and aspen catkins.
It's time to play. Children depict animals, inhabitants of the forest.
Game "Show me the answer"
The poor man has no den,
He doesn't need a hole.
Legs save you from enemies,
And from hunger - bark.
(Hare)
Get into the habit of going into the poultry house -
Expect trouble.
Red tail
Covers his tracks.
(Fox)
Who deftly jumps through the Christmas trees?
And flies up into the oak trees?
Who hides nuts in a hollow,
Drying mushrooms for the winter?
(Squirrel)
Not a beast or a bird,
Afraid of everything.
Catching flies -
And a splash into the water.
(Frog)
Like a royal crown
He wears his horns.
Eats lichen, green moss,
Loves snowy meadows.
(Deer)
The rope curls
At the end there is a head.
Crawling, wriggling,
Throws himself at the enemy.
(Snake)
A ball is rolling through the forest,
He has a prickly side.
He hunts at night
For bugs and mice.
(Hedgehog)
This little gray baby
I'm glad even for a bread crumb,
Because before dark
She is hiding in a hole.
(Mouse)
Lying down dirty
In a bristly shirt.
Pretzel tail,
Snout like a snout.
(Boar)
For housing, the squirrel builds one main nest for the winter and 2-3 year-old spare nests. These spare nests are like summer houses, in which the squirrel rests, hides from predators, waits out summer heat. If suddenly the baby squirrels are in danger, he drags them to these spare nests. Summer nests are light and windblown. But the winter nest is woven and skillfully built, insulated. There are, however, not very hardworking squirrels who adapt magpies' and crows' nests as nests, driving the housewives out of them.
By nature, the squirrel is nimble, cocky, businesslike and scandalous. Let's look at the meanings of these words. What does "nimble" mean? Cocky? Busy? Scandalous? (Children's answers).
Squirrels have weddings twice a year - at the end of winter and at the end of spring. Baby squirrels also appear twice a year. Baby squirrels are born tiny, naked, blind and ugly. But this is in our opinion. For every mother, be it a crow or a squirrel, her child is the most beautiful of all. This is what the proverb says: “A cat’s kitten is also a child.” Within a month, the baby squirrels’ eyes open and their bodies are covered with delicate fur. And very soon they will become such spoilers and bore their mother so much with their antics that she goes to a spare nest and takes a break from her restless children. But by nightfall, having rested, she returns to the children. After all, a squirrel is a caring mother.
If an enemy attacks, the squirrel tries to lead him away from the nest, running away along tree trunks. Sometimes he pretends to be dead and falls to the ground. It happens that while saving babies, a squirrel dies.
As soon as the baby squirrels grow up, they leave their parents. The squirrel daughters will go to independent life a bit later. Old squirrels live in the same place, and young ones settle in a new one.
Unfortunately, the squirrel's main enemy is man. And it got to the point that they shot all the squirrels in Crimea. We realized it, but it was too late. I had to catch squirrels where there are a lot of them and bring them to our peninsula. Fortunately, these squirrels liked it with us, they took root well and multiplied.
But all people need to remember: we are big and strong, but we must also be kind and wise so as not to harm the small and defenseless.
Now I suggest you do applique "Squirrel".
Questions:
1. How does a squirrel prepare for winter?
2. What do you store in your “pantries”?
3. What trick does he use when collecting nuts?
4. Why does the squirrel dry fly agarics?
5. What kind of tree cones does he like to eat in winter?
6. What does a squirrel eat during hungry winters?
7. What is added to the squirrel “menu” in the summer?
8. How do squirrels make their homes?
9. Whose houses do some squirrels occupy?
10. What is the character of a squirrel?
11. How are baby squirrels born?
12. How does a squirrel take care of baby squirrels?
The wildlife is varied and amazing. There are many interesting animals in our forests. One of them is the animal squirrel. The nimble animal skillfully runs through the trees, collecting nuts and other supplies. This is where many people’s knowledge about this animal ends. Next, we will consider the basic facts about this interesting animal.
What does a squirrel look like?
According to the zoological classification, the squirrel animal belongs to the class of mammals, the order of rodents, and the squirrel family. Its description is as follows: a small, very nimble and agile animal with an elongated body and a beautiful bushy tail. The body length of squirrels is approximately twenty or thirty centimeters, the length of the tail is a third shorter. The squirrel tail is not just a decoration. It serves as a rudder when jumping, a balancer when running along tree branches, and a blanket during sleep. The appearance of the tail is an indicator of the health of the animal; animals use it to choose their partner.
Exist giant squirrels with a body size of about fifty centimeters. And the most small view does not exceed seven and a half centimeters in length. Continuing the description of the squirrel, it should be noted that its head is small, slightly elongated. She has shiny black eyes, a round nose and long ears, which often have tassels.
The squirrel's paws are strong, with sharp, tenacious claws. The hind limbs are longer than the forelimbs. On the muzzle, abdomen and front legs of the animal there are special hard hairs - vibrissae, which perform the function of sensory organs.
Where do they live?
The habitat of squirrels is unusually wide. About fifty species of these animals “live” in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, where there are tall forests. Squirrels are unpretentious animals. They feel good both in the north and in the south, in the mountains and on the plain. They are also found in city parks and squares.
It depends on where the animal lives appearance, size and color. Squirrels are inhabitants of the mountains, larger than their lowland relatives. And the closer to the center of the range, the lighter the color of the animals becomes.
Varieties
There are too many species of squirrels in nature to list them all. The most famous of them are: Abert's squirrel, fire squirrel, Caucasian (Persian), flying squirrel, Japanese squirrel, mouse squirrel, Indian giant squirrel, two-colored squirrel and many others.
The only species that lives on the territory of Russia is the common red squirrel or weck. This type of animal has many subspecies, differing in size and color.
Coloring
According to the number of different color options common appearance ahead of all its relatives. In this case, the shade changes seasonally. In summer, the fur of representatives of this squirrel species is red, brown or dark brown. In winter it becomes gray, sometimes almost black or brownish, as in the Carpathian, Far Eastern and Manchurian subspecies.
The largest among common squirrels - teleduts - sport silver-gray and bluish coats in winter. Their tail is pale gray with a hint of black and yellowish-rusty. According to this feature, teleut squirrels are classified as greytails.
Other varieties based on winter tail color are browntails, redtails and blacktails. Among the squirrels, there are individuals with a piebald color, as well as melanists (absolutely black) and albinos (absolutely white specimens).
Shedding
Considering the description of the squirrel, it is worth noting that twice a year, like many other animals, they change their fur. In spring this happens most often in April-May, in autumn - throughout the entire season. Spring molting in squirrels occurs from the head to the base of the tail. Autumn molt goes in the opposite direction - from the root of the tail to the head. Thus, the tail of these animals sheds once a year.
The molting process, like that of other mammals, depends on the length of daylight hours. When it changes, the animal's pituitary gland produces a special hormone that affects the activity of the thyroid gland. Thanks to this, molting begins.
The timing and duration of this process is not constant. They depend on weather conditions and amount of feed. If there is a lot of it, the change of coat in squirrels begins earlier and ends faster. From climatic conditions and the quality of new fur also depends on the food supply.
Lifestyle
Squirrels are solitary animals; they form flocks only during mass migrations. They do not fight for territory with their relatives; they do not protect their individual areas. They spend most of their life in trees. On the ground, the animals feel anxious and move cautiously, making short jumps and dashes. Noticing danger, they hide higher in the dense crown of trees.
Squirrels are most active in the mornings and evenings, when they are busy searching for food. This takes the lion's share of their active time.
Possessing excellent jumping ability, these small, dexterous animals fearlessly make multi-meter “flights” from branch to branch, using their fluffy tail as a rudder. The best “flyers” among squirrels are flying squirrels. Between the front and hind legs on both sides of the body, flying squirrels have a membrane that allows them to plan, turning their jumps almost into real flight.
Squirrel housing
Squirrels always make their homes in trees, preferring to use hollows for this purpose. Not finding a suitable shelter, the animal builds a spherical nest, located high above the ground among dense foliage. The inside of the squirrel's home is lined with dry grass, leaves, and insulated with moss or lichen.
The nest has two entrances, one of which is located on the side of the trunk, so that the squirrel has the opportunity to escape in case of danger. In extreme cold, several animals gather in one such house; the entrance is covered with moss, and this saves the animals from freezing.
Nutrition
What does a squirrel eat in the forest? The basis of her diet is plant food- seeds of coniferous trees, fresh and dried mushrooms, in the southern regions - nuts and acorns. If there is a shortage of basic types of food, squirrels can eat buds and shoots of trees, tubers and rhizomes of various plants, berries, and lichens. In early spring, during the mating season, squirrels begin to eat animal food - insects and their larvae, frogs, bird eggs and the chicks themselves.
Everyone knows about the thrifty nature of squirrels. On the eve of winter, they prepare nuts, acorns and cones, hiding them in hollows or burying them under tree roots. He forgets about his protein reserves. Either she herself or other inhabitants of the forest accidentally stumble upon them. But she can find “storerooms” made by mice, chipmunks or nutcrackers under a one and a half meter layer of snow.
Reproduction
The common squirrel or weksha usually produces offspring twice a year. In the south of the range, three litters occur. Only Yakut squirrel hatches cubs once a year. During the mating season, females seek the favor of three to six males. They behave aggressively towards rivals, purring and knocking on branches with their paws.
The strongest gets the right to mate with the female, after which she builds a nest. After 36-37 days, squirrels are born in it. The number of cubs can be from three to ten, usually there are more of them in the second litter than in the first. Baby squirrels are born naked and blind, each of them weighs about 8 g. Their mother feeds them milk for about a month and a half. At about 9 weeks of age, babies begin to lead an independent life.
Having examined the description and lifestyle of an interesting forest dweller, which is the animal squirrel, you can become more familiar with the characteristics of this species.
This funny animal often delights us with its appearance in city parks or forests. Sometimes the behavior of the squirrel seems amusing and funny, especially “begging” for something tasty, and sometimes it seems a little impudent. Well, that's her nature.
The squirrel is one of the most common representatives of the squirrel family. Even in ancient times, it was the main object of the fur trade, of course, after the arctic fox. And its skins served as the main small change - the Bela. That's where it went from here modern name this animal.
The common squirrel has about 40 subspecies, the main difference between which is color. This furry animal lives on a vast territory stretching from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to Kamchatka, Sakhalin Island and Japanese island Hokkaido. You can meet him in any mixed forests.
Habitat of the common squirrel The life of a squirrel is fraught with many things interesting facts, which we are not even aware of. And here are some of them.
1. Squirrel fur
For us, the most familiar image is the red squirrel. But these are not all of its color options. The color depends on the time of year. In summer they are mostly red or brown, and in winter they are gray or dark brown. But the abdomen, regardless of the season, remains light.
But among them there are also pure black, piebald (with light spots) and even albino squirrels. One pattern is observed in their coloring - the closer to the center of their habitat, the lighter the fur.
Twice a year the squirrel changes its coat. First in the spring - in April-May, and then in the autumn - from September to November. Spring molting begins from the head and body, and autumn molting begins from the tail. How quickly it will pass, and how beautiful the new fur will be, will depend on the amount of food supplies and weather conditions.
Black squirrel 2. Lifestyle
Alfred Bram nicknamed the squirrel the “northern monkey” for its agility and dexterity. She easily jumps from tree to tree. A distance of 3-4 meters is not a serious obstacle for her. On the ground they move in small leaps. If the squirrel senses danger, it immediately climbs the nearest tree.
Movement on the ground 
During the jump 3. Squirrel nests
The squirrel and the forest are two inseparable things. It spends most of its life in trees, with the exception of migration and the breeding season. Here the animal makes spherical nests from twigs, which are called gayna. Or, thanks to his fighting and cocky character, he wins some hollow or nest, or takes an empty one.
Squirrel's nest - Gaina The inside of the nest is insulated with leaves, moss, dry grass or woody lichen. If necessary, correct where necessary, patch it up and add a roof. In winter, in one nest, warming each other and plugging the entrance with moss, from 3 to 6 squirrels can sleep. Therefore, during winter frosts the temperature in the nest reaches 15-20 degrees. In severe cold, squirrels do not crawl out of their “bedroom”.
In the hollow 
Female with baby squirrel The squirrel nest has 2 exits: the main one and a spare one, which is directed towards the trunk, so that in case of danger you can quickly slip out and run away from the enemy.
3. Squirrel migration
At the end of summer - beginning of autumn, squirrels begin their migration period. At this time, the proteins do not form large clusters, but travel alone. The most common causes of this phenomenon are lack of food, forest fires or drought.
Squirrels can migrate both short (to the nearest forest) and long distances (up to 100-300 km). At this time, the animals are ready to do anything, even swim across small rivers and bays. Sometimes their path goes through settlements. Unfortunately, many animals during migrations die from hunger, cold, attacks by predators, or simply drown.
4. Food
The main food for squirrels is the seeds of coniferous trees: pine, larch, spruce, fir and others. The squirrel guts their cones professionally. In 3 minutes it will leave only a pile of scales from a small pine cone. At this rate, 1 small squirrel can devastate 15 spruce trees and about 100 pine cones.
Pickled pine cone In addition to them, the squirrel enjoys eating hazelnuts, acorns, berries, shoots and buds of trees, mushrooms, rhizomes, tubers, and lichens. In times of hunger or during breeding periods, it will not disdain insects and their larvae, as well as chicks, eggs and small vertebrates. In general, squirrels are omnivores.
5. Inventories
They store small excess food in reserve for the winter. Squirrels build warehouses in hollows or bury food in the ground between roots, after which they calmly forget about it and can no longer remember it. This is the nature of their memory. She finds them by accident, which makes her very happy.
The squirrel's short memory is happily used by other animals - birds and small rodents, and the squirrel itself sometimes eats the reserves of mice and chipmunks, which it easily finds even under a thick layer of snow.
6. Reproduction
During the breeding season, males become quite aggressive towards each other and often start fights. Up to 6 males can chase one female at a time.
After mating, the squirrel goes to build a brood nest. One litter contains from 3 to 10 cubs, of which only 1-4 survive. They are born weighing only 8 grams, completely naked and blind. After 2 weeks they begin to become covered with hair, after 1 month they begin to see clearly and are already getting out of the nest. Up to 1.5 months, the mother feeds them with milk. After 8-10 weeks they already leave parents' house. The interval between broods is about 13 weeks.
Two week old baby squirrel 7. Enemies of squirrels
IN natural environment In their habitat, squirrels live no more than 4 years, while in zoos they live up to 10-12 years. What are the reasons for such a large age difference? Firstly, the forest expanses are home to many wild animals who will happily feast on these beautiful creatures.
The most dangerous enemy for a squirrel is pine marten, and not at all an eagle owl or an owl. You can still escape from the bird if you notice its approach in time. Moreover, the rescue tactics are quite unusual: in the event of an attack, the squirrel begins to run down the tree in a spiral, periodically hiding from the bird’s eyes behind the trunk. As a result, the eagle owl must fly around the tree, thereby losing valuable time.
Images of squirrels can be seen both on the coats of arms of Zelenograd, Yakutsk and the German city of Eckernförde, and on the Belarusian currency - a 1992 50-kopeck banknote. I won’t say anything about the numerous stamps with her image.
