Stats

Lifespan: 5-10 yrs
Size: Small
Diet: Omnivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Climbing
Breeding: Live Birth
Defense: Speed
Status: Common

About

The American Red Squirrel is a small, feisty tree squirrel of North American conifer forests, known for its rusty-red coat, white eye-ring, and habit of scolding intruders with a rapid, chattering bark. It caches thousands of pine and spruce cones each autumn in a central midden, sometimes defended as a territory for its entire life.

Life cycle

1.
newborn pup
A blind, hairless pup nurses in the nest and is unable to regulate its own warmth.
2.
juvenile
A weaned juvenile is fully furred, leaves the nest, and begins foraging on solid food.
3.
adult
Fully grown and self-sufficient.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Tamiasciurus
Species: Tamiasciurus hudsonicus