A Squirrel’s Life Is a Busy One

SQUIRRELS are busy little creatures, seeming to be constantly on the move. Now you see them; now you don’t. But perhaps the most striking feature of the common tree squirrel is its large, bushy tail.

Why, the very name “squirrel” calls attention to this appendage. Wilfred Funk’s Word Origins tells us that the English designation for this creature comes “from the Greek skiouros, ‘shadow tail,’ from skia, ‘shadow,’ and oura, ‘tail.’” This work then adds: “Since about a third of every squirrel is tail the description ‘shadow tail’ seems like an acute choice for a name.”​—P. 197.

The squirrel family is widespread, being found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. The most common tree squirrels are the gray squirrel of North America and the red squirrel inhabiting Europe and Asia.

A squirrel’s tail is a most useful appendage. When this creature, with legs spread straight, makes its tremendous leaps from the branch of one tree to the branch of another tree, the tail helps it to maintain balance. Faced with an antagonist, the squirrel can use its tail like a shield. Should the temperature plunge, the tail serves well as a blanket. The tail can also function as an umbrella when arched over the animal’s back during a rainstorm.

Squirrels are outstanding jumpers and can fall from great heights without sustaining injury. With one leap, a squirrel may jump from the ground to a height of three or four feet on the trunk of a tree and then bound away. At times a squirrel may land on a rotten limb and tumble to the ground or it may lose its footing and fall. Like a parachute, the tail will slow the creature’s descent. Yes, thanks to its large, bushy tail, a squirrel can drop hundreds of feet and thereafter run off like a flash.

Furthermore, a squirrel’s being able to drop from a considerable height without sustaining any injury has escape value. Hard pressed by an enemy, a squirrel may deliberately drop to the ground and take off through the underbrush to safety.

These bushy-tailed creatures also have other ways of coping with trespassers. Initially the animal may resort to noisy scolding. When this does not work, it may quickly rotate to the other side of the tree trunk or branch, thereby keeping the tree trunk or branch between itself and the unwelcome visitor. Should this not be enough, the squirrel may quickly scamper to loftier heights. Camouflage, too, comes in handy. Remaining motionless, a gray squirrel may appear as if it were part of the tree trunk or branch. In the event that the young are threatened by a bird of prey, a mother squirrel may rise on her hind legs and pummel the assailant.

Squirrels are famous for hoarding. Carrying a nut in its mouth, a squirrel will dig a hole with its forefeet, deposit the nut and then cover it up with dirt. According to one estimate, it takes seven minutes for a gray squirrel to bury ten nuts. A single squirrel may hide some 10,000 nuts in a three-month period. Many of the nuts that are not later dug up and eaten are thus planted. In this way squirrels contribute much toward propagating trees.

Even when the ground is covered by a foot (30 centimeters) or more of snow, squirrels appear to have no difficulty in finding nuts that they have buried. What enables them to do this? A keen sense of smell is believed to be the primary factor.

Red squirrels are active hoarders of pine cones. One of these squirrels may cut down over a hundred pine cones in just one hour. The animal then piles these up and covers them over with leaves or hides them in the hollow of a tree. A red squirrel may end up with a store of some three to ten bushels (1 to 3.5 hectoliters) of pine cones.

Besides having a pleasant beauty, squirrels are busy workers indeed. The next time you see these delightful creatures scamper about, remember that they are providing a valuable service in planting trees.