Peek A Boo

Featured: ABC C is for Cute 1/31/2024

Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, consisting of small or medium-size rodents. The family... more

by Lisa Wooten

Title

Peek A Boo

Artist

Lisa Wooten

Medium

Photograph

Description

Featured: ABC C is for Cute 1/31/2024

Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, consisting of small or medium-size rodents. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots (including woodchucks), flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and have been introduced to Australia.[1] The earliest known squirrels date from the Eocene and are most closely related to the mountain beaver and to the dormouse among living rodent families.

Contents [show]
Etymology
The word "squirrel", first specified in 1327, comes from Anglo-Norman esquirel from the Old French escurel, the reflex of a Latin word sciurus. This Latin word was borrowed from the Ancient Greek word σκίουρος, skiouros, which means shadow-tailed, referring to the bushy appendage possessed by many of its members.[2][3]

The native Old English word for the squirrel, ācweorna, survived only into Middle English (as aquerne) before being replaced.[4] The Old English word is of Common Germanic origin, and cognates used by other countries to name the squirrel include the German Eichhh�rnchen (diminutive of Eichhorn, which is not used), the Norwegian ikorn/ekorn, the Dutch eekhoorn, the Swedish ekorre and the Danish egern.

Characteristics

Reaching out for food on a garden bird feeder, this squirrel can rotate its hind feet, allowing it to descend a tree head-first.
Squirrels are generally small animals, ranging in size from the African pygmy squirrel at 7�10 cm (2.8�3.9 in) in length and just 10 g (0.35 oz) in weight, to the Alpine marmot, which is 53�73 cm (21�29 in) long and weighs from 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lb). Squirrels typically have slender bodies with bushy tails and large eyes. In general, their fur is soft and silky, although much thicker in some species than others. The color of squirrels is highly variable between�and often even within�species.[5]

In general, the hind limbs are longer than the fore limbs, and they have four or five toes on each paw. Their paws include an often poorly developed thumb, and have soft pads on the undersides.[6] Unlike most mammals, Tree squirrels can descend a tree head-first. They do so by rotating their ankles 180 degrees so the hind paws are backward-pointing and can grip the tree bark.[7]

Squirrels live in almost every habitat from tropical rainforest to semiarid desert, avoiding only the high polar regions and the driest of deserts. They are predominantly herbivorous, subsisting on seeds and nuts, but many will eat insects and even small vertebrates.[8]

As their large eyes indicate, in general squirrels have an excellent sense of vision, which is especially important for tree-dwelling species. They also have very versatile and sturdy claws for grasping and climbing.[9] Many also have a good sense of touch, with vibrissae on their heads and limbs.[6]


Skull of an Oriental giant squirrel (genus Ratufa) - note the classic sciuromorphous shape of the anterior zygomatic region.
The teeth of sciurids follow the typical rodent pattern, with large gnawing incisors that grow throughout life, and grinding cheek teeth set back behind a wide gap, or diastema. The typical dental formula for sciurids is
1.0.1.3
1.0.1.3
[citation needed]

Most squirrels die in the first year of life. Adult squirrels can have a lifespan of 5 to 10 years in the wild. Some can survive 10 to 20 years in captivity.[10]

Uploaded

December 26th, 2014