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Black squirrels are a melanistic subgroup of squirrels with black coloration on their fur. The phenomenon occurs with several species of squirrels, although it is most frequent with the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger). Black morphs of the eastern gray and fox squirrels are the result of a ...
Ground squirrels and tree squirrels are usually either diurnal or crepuscular, [24] while the flying squirrels tend to be nocturnal—except for lactating flying squirrels and their young, which have a period of diurnality during the summer. [25] During hot periods, squirrels have been documented to sploot, or lay their stomachs down on cool ...
The southern fox squirrel can vary in length from 20–26 inches (51–66 cm) and they can weigh from 1.5–2.6 pounds (0.68–1.18 kg). [3] They are about double the size of the much more common eastern gray squirrel. [4]
Eastern gray squirrels are crepuscular, [24] or more active during the early and late hours of the day, and tend to avoid the heat in the middle of a summer day. [40] They do not hibernate. [41] Eastern gray squirrels can breed twice a year, but younger and less experienced mothers normally have a single litter per year in the spring.
The sharing of nests in winter by northern flying squirrels is important in maintaining body temperature (biothermal regulation), as northern flying squirrels do not hibernate, nor do they enter torpor states. Northern flying squirrels gliding distances tend to be between 5 and 25 metres, though glides of up to 45 m and longer have been observed.
The fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, [3] is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America.It is sometimes mistaken for the American red squirrel or eastern gray squirrel in areas where the species co-exist, though they differ in size and coloration.
The currently accepted scientific name for Abert's squirrel is Sciurus aberti Woodhouse, 1853. [4] Woodhouse had initially described the species as Sciurus dorsalis in 1852, but this name turned out to be preoccupied by Sciurus dorsalis Gray, 1849 (now a subspecies of variegated squirrel S. variegatoides), and thus the present species was renamed.
Two squirrels in the entrance of a drey. Male and female squirrels may share the same nest for short times during a breeding season, and during cold winter spells squirrels may share a drey to stay warm. However, females nest alone when pregnant. In North America, squirrels produce broods of about three "pups" twice a year.