Red Squirrel Facts
Red Squirrel Physical Description
Red squirrels have a typical head to body length of 19 to 23 cm, a tail length of 15 to 20 cm and a mass of 250 to 340 grams, being slightly smaller than the eastern grey squirrel which has a head to body length of 25 to 30 cm and weighs between 400 and 800 grams. The long tail is thought to help the squirrel to balance and steer when moving from tree to tree and running along branches, and may also keep the animal warm during sleep. Like most tree squirrels, the red squirrel has sharp, curved claws to enable the climbing of trees.
The coat of the red squirrel varies in colour with time of year and location. Red coats are most common in Great Britain and the underside of the squirrel is always white-cream in colour. Red squirrels shed their coats twice each year, switching from a thinner summer coat to a thicker, darker winter coat with noticeably larger ear-tufts (a prominent distinguishing feature of this species) between August and November.
Red Squirrel Life Cycle
On average, the lifespan of a red squirrel us three years, although some individuals may reach 7 years and in captivity even 10 years.
Mating can occur in late winter during February and March and in summer between June and July, with up to two possible litters a year per female. Typically a female will produce her first litter in her second year.
Each litter usually contains three or four young although as many as six may be born. Gestation is about 38 to 39 days. The young are looked after by the mother alone, and are born helpless, blind and deaf and weigh between 10 to 15 grams. Their body is covered by hair at 21 days, their eyes and ears open after three to four weeks, and they develop all their teeth by 42 days. The juvenile red squirrel can eat solids around 40 days following birth and from that point can leave the nest on their own to find food, however they still suckle from their mother until weaning occurs at eight to 10 weeks.
Survival is positively related to availability of autumn–winter tree seeds, on average, 75 to 85% of juveniles disappear during their first winter, and mortality is approximately 50% for winters following the first.
The Habitat and Distribution of Red Squirrels
The red squirrel is native to usually coniferous forest and it is also found in temperate broadleaf woodlands. The squirrel makes a nest, known as a drey in a branch-fork of a conifer by laying down twigs to make a domed structure about 25 to 30 cm in diameter, then lining it with moss, leaves, grass and bark. Hollows and woodpecker's nests are also used.
Red Squirrels are solitary animals and are shy and reluctant to share food with others. However, outside of the breeding season and particularly in winter, multiple Red Squirrels may share a drey to keep warm.
Red squirrels eat mostly the seeds of trees, neatly stripping conifer cones to get at the seeds within. Fungi, birds' eggs, berries and young shoots are also eaten. Often the bark of trees is removed to allow access to sap. Excess food is put into caches, either buried or in nooks or holes in trees and eaten when food is scarce. Although red squirrels do remember where they created caches at a better than chance level, their spatial memory is substantially less accurate and durable than that of grey squirrels; they therefore will often have to search for them when in need, and many caches are never found again. No territories are maintained, and the feeding areas of individuals overlap considerably.
Arborreal predators include small mammals including the pine marten, wild cats, and the stoat which preys on nestlings, birds including owls and raptors such as goshawk and buzzard may also take red squirrels. The red fox, cats and dogs can predate upon the red squirrel when they are on the ground. Humans influence the population size and mortality of the red squirrel by destroying or altering habitats, causing road casualties, or through controlling populations by hunting.
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