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Squirrels eat a variety of nuts, berries, fruit, conifer tree cones, greens, and fungi. ©Dmitry Potashkin/iStock via Getty Images Squirrels are masters at storage and also deception.
The American red squirrel is variously known as the pine squirrel or piney squirrel, North American red squirrel, chickaree, boomer, or simply red squirrel. The squirrel is a small, 200–250 g (7.1–8.8 oz), diurnal mammal that defends a year-round exclusive territory.
The American red squirrel should not be confused with the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) — both are usually just referred to as the "red squirrel" in their home continents. Pine squirrels rely on a variety of food sources including fungi, plants, arthropods and tree seed.
Many animals eat unripe acorns on the tree or ripe acorns from the ground, with no reproductive benefit to the oak, but some animals, such as squirrels and jays serve as seed dispersal agents. Jays and squirrels that scatter-hoard acorns in caches for future use effectively plant acorns in a variety of locations in which it is possible for them ...
Squirrels typically eat acorns, seeds, nuts and fruit, but are known to occasionally eat fresh carrion or roadkill, insects, eggs or other discarded food.
No, this isn't an article written for (or by) squirrels – humans can actually eat acorns under certain circumstances. The nuts stem from oak trees, and can actually elicit a mild, nutty flavor.
The red squirrel eats mostly the seeds of trees, neatly stripping conifer cones to get at the seeds within, [15] fungi, nuts (especially hazelnuts but also beech, chestnuts and acorns), berries, vegetables, garden flowers, tree sap and young shoots. [16] More rarely, red squirrels may also eat bird eggs or nestlings.
In response to my last squirrel column, I was asked for some clarification about what they eat. More specifically, whether or not they are omnivores. Nature News: What exactly do squirrels eat?