Squirrel Halloween

[happyslug]

2. I've read Gray Squirrels are on the decline in the UK

Has to do with the expanding Pine Martin population.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pine_marte

Recently (December, 2007) the Pine Marten was credited with reducing the population of the invasive Eastern Grey Squirrel in the UK. Where the range of the expanding Pine Marten population meets that of the Grey Squirrel, the population of the squirrels quickly retreats. It is theorised that because the Grey Squirrel spends more time on the ground than the endangered Red Squirrel, they are far more likely to come in contact with this predator.

http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/britishwildlife/pinemarten.html

http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/tufty-s-saviour-to-the-rescue-1-1430388

As an American who have seen the Gray (14-21 oz weight) and larger American Fox Squirrels (one to two POUNDS) in action I can see why. Both American Squirrels are more ground dwellers then tree dwellers. What I mean by that is both the Gray and the Fox will jump from tree to the ground and then back and think nothing of it. The reports I have read of the European Red Squirrel is that it rarely touches the ground.

In the US we have what is called the Gray Fox. Unlike the Red Fox (also native to the US, but NOT the East Coast where the Red Fox was introduced in the 1600s) the Gray Fox can climb trees. In fact the Gray Fox, like the Black Bear, can climb trees without any limbs, both have claws that can dig into the bark of a tree.

Thus in the US, Given the Gray Fox (and to a lesser degree the Black Bear) there was no competitive advantage to be a 100% tree dweller. If an animal was 100% tree living, the Gray Fox can still get at it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_fox



http://www.chicagowilderness.org/CW_Archives/issues/summer2006/news/grayfox.html

Video of a Gray Fox Climbing a tree:

http://www.arkive.org/grey-fox/urocyon-cinereoargenteus/video-08a.html

Here is a Black Bear climbing up a tree (Brown Bears, Grizlly Bears and Polar Bears can NOT do this):

Cats (and by this I include the Lynx and other small wild cats) can also climb trees, but NOT as good as the Gray Fox of Black Bear. Cats do NOT have the claws needed to climb up a bare trunk, Gray Foxes and Black Bears can.

The Red Fox, like the dog and the Wolf are poor tree climbers. Prior the European Settlement of the East Coast of the US, Red Foxes were found only in the Canadian North and other areas without extensive tree cover. Lets remember, prior to Columbus the single largest Temper climate Forest covered North American from Texas to Wisconsin and then to the East Coast of the US. You started to see prairie in Illinois, but it was still mostly woods till well west of the Mississippi River. Given this level of tree coverage (the Joke was a Squirrel or a Gray Fox did not have to ever touch land on any trip between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the US, unless they wanted to, that is how extensive that forest was).

Thus the Gray Squirrel evolved in an environment with the Gray Fox and extensive woods. Given the Gray Fox could climb trees, there was no advantage to be a 100% tree dweller and American Squirrels are not.

The Gray Squirrel prefers areas with extensive ground cover, the larger American Fox Squirrel prefer areas with almost no such cover. Thus how forested an area is determine which of these two squirrels dominates. In more broken terrain (Suburbs and Cities) the Fox Squirrel dominates. In true forest, it is the Gray Squirrel.

The American Martin, a smaller cousin of the European Pine Martin, stays in Pine Forest of Canada, and New England (and extending down the West Coast ot California), thus rarely comes into contact with the American Gray Squirrel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_marten

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_squirrel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_gray_squirrel