This charming animal, evoking sympathy in both adults and children, has recently quite often become the pet of many citizens. It’s as if a funny animal was created to decorate our nature - dense forest, city park or indoor living area.
Squirrel is very attractive in appearance. This is a very proportionate animal with thick fiery brown hair in the summer and silver-fawn in the winter, with dark tassels on sharp ears and a fluffy tail. Her face is decorated with smart black eyes. All this together gives the impression of sophisticated grace.
Have you ever watched a squirrel move? The description of her movements can be reduced to several words - lightness, dynamics and grace. All the movements and poses of this beauty are elegant and sophisticated - whether she climbs up a huge tree trunk, instantly “flies” from branch to branch, or enthusiastically nibbles a cone, grabbing it with small but strong legs, while fluffing her unusual tail.
Habitat
The life of squirrels has always been of interest not only to scientists, but also to ordinary travelers. It is always interesting to observe the behavior of the animal, its incredible activity, curiosity, sweet credulity, lightning-fast transitions from one action to another.
These are wild animals. Squirrel in vivo in Russia is found in the forest-steppe and forest zone. Since the end of the XX century, this animal began to inhabit parks and gardens near various settlements, and sometimes in their territory. They are not afraid of large cities.
The squirrel, the description of which can be found in many publications, starting from school books and ending with special reference books, settles in hollows or in special nests in the shape of a ball - the sinuses, which it masters from rough branches from the outside and soft bark from the inside.
In settlements, it is often with pleasure that it takes birdhouses and other bird nests.
The squirrel is an extremely smart animal. She is in no hurry to migrate to warmer regions even in a very harsh winter, if she has no problems with food or is fed by people.
Squirrel: description, external features
The common squirrel is a rather small animal with a slender, slightly elongated body, a tail with a "comb" and a head of a regular, rounded shape. Ears are elongated, pronounced tassels appear in winter.
On the muzzle, abdomen, forelegs there are vibrissae, special sensory organs that help animals to better navigate in space. The hind legs are much longer than the front, and the fingers on the legs are crowned with sharp, tenacious claws. The hair on the sides of the tail is longer than on the whole body, so the tail has a slightly flattened shape.
Squirrel in winter acquires soft, high and fluffy fur. In summer, it is more rare, stiff, short. Color changes seasonally, within the same population. The animal molts twice a year (except for the tail - it molts only once).
In the spring, molting occurs in April-May, and autumn molting occurs in September-November.
Protein Nutrition
This cute rodent is a typical inhabitant of the forest. This is probably why the basis of her diet is the seeds of trees and shrubs. Squirrel prefers to live in mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. Here she has the best feed conditions. In addition, the animal is very fond of mature dark coniferous plantations - spruce forests, cedar forests, fir trees; they are followed by deciduous plantations, mixed pine trees, thickets of cedar shrub. In the Caucasus and Crimea, ordinary squirrel feels very comfortable in cultural landscapes - vineyards and orchards.
Lifestyle
Squirrel is a moving and lively animal. She easily makes huge "flights" from tree to tree. Sometimes they “fly” in a straight line up to 10-15 m, while masterfully “steering” with their tail. In snowless times, as well as during the rutting season, he spends a long time on the ground, on which he moves irregularly.
Squirrel in winter moves mainly along the “tops”. At the slightest danger hides in the trees, usually hiding in a crown. Active in the morning and evening. She spends up to 80% of her time searching for food.
At the height of winter, it leaves its nest only during feeding; it does not leave the nest in severe frosts, falling into a half-drowsiness state. The squirrel is not territorial - individual sites are weakly expressed.
Squirrels are distinguished by the ability to hide and find hidden seeds and nuts, they quickly realize that people can be a source of food and get used to eating by hand.
Despite the charming appearance, they are quite aggressive, moderately suspicious and even differ in quarrelsomeness. These cute little animals can easily be tame animals, but pets are unlikely in the usual sense. They cannot be attributed to animals that can be caressed or “cuddled”. Even with the warmest friendships, you only occasionally manage to stroke the animal in the fur.
Very rarely, a squirrel becomes so tame that it allows you to pull yourself together. Young animals adapt much more quickly to new conditions than adults.
Types of Squirrels
The animals that are kept in captivity include the common protein and the tele-protein.
The common squirrel belongs to rodents, it is familiar to every person - an adult and a child, even if he saw it only in the picture. Distributed throughout Russia. The only exceptions are desert, steppe and semi-desert zones.
The squirrel-teleutka is a special subspecies of the common squirrel. It is mainly distributed in Eastern Siberia, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, acclimatized in the Crimea and the Caucasus.
These types of squirrels differ from each other only in size and color - the teleut is larger.
Life span
On average, the lifespan of these animals in natural conditions is no more than 3.5 years. At home, when the animal is not threatened by frost, it is provided with food and protected from predators, squirrels live up to 10-12 years. Cases when squirrels live in captivity up to 16 years old are more likely an exception to the rule.
Protein Nutrition
The diet of this little animal is diverse. It consists of more than 130 names of various feeds. The main part among them are the seeds of conifers - pine, cedar, spruce, fir, larch.
In the southern, oak forests with undergrowth, squirrels enjoy treating themselves with hazelnuts and acorns. In addition, she eats mushrooms, shoots and buds of trees, tubers and rhizomes, berries, lichens, grass. Quite often, with a lack of feed, protein actively eats the buds of spruce, thereby causing significant damage to these trees.
During the breeding season, it does not refuse animal feed - insects and their larvae, feeds on eggs, chicks, small vertebrates. The daily amount of food consumed largely depends on the season: in spring, during the rut, it can be up to 80 g of feed per day, in winter - about 35 g.
For winter, the thrifty squirrel collects small reserves of nuts, acorns, cones, dragging them into nests or hiding them among the roots. In addition, she dries mushrooms, like a good housewife, hanging them on tree branches.
True, quite often she forgets about her warehouses and finds them in the winter quite by accident. Small rodents, birds, and even a brown bear often use this. The squirrel itself uses the reserves of its forest neighbors (pine forests, chipmunk, mice), which it senses even through a one and a half meter layer of snow.
Maintenance and care
A home squirrel is a creature with indefatigable energy that can jump and run for hours. For its maintenance in the house you need a spacious aviary or a large cage.
For one animal, a cage measuring 50x60 cm and a height of 150 cm is required. It is better to make the rods galvanized, or cover them with good powder paint. The gap between the rods should not be more than 2 cm. The cage must be equipped with a retractable tray to make it easier to clean. Put hay, reed, or forest moss on a pallet.
Be sure to have a drinker, feeder and houses in the cage, where squirrels usually make nests. One animal needs two houses, which must be well fixed at a sufficient height. Put into the cage pieces of soft fabric, pieces of wool yarn, small sawdust, a little cotton wool, which the squirrel must use when organizing the nest.
The owner must have access to the house (for this you can use a hinged roof or wide entrance). Do not forget about mineral and salt stones, which should be installed in a place convenient for the pet, it is better if it is a place next to the drinker or feeder.
We have already said that squirrels are in urgent need of movement, so you can not do without various ladders, hammocks, swings, large branches and wheels.
The squirrel at home will feel comfortable in a cage installed away from drafts and direct rays of the sun. It should be removed after a day. This will protect your pet from infectious diseases.
