Friday, December 5, 2014

Eastern Gray Squirrel

If you live within the range of these squirrels, you have probably noticed increased activity this month with them chasing each other and vocalizing.  I watched some yesterday chasing each other so quickly around the tree it was surprising they did not lose traction.

The Eastern Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis,  generally mates twice each year.  Once in Dec-Feb time frame and again May - June.  Litter size is between 1-9 with a general litter size of 2-3.  Gestation period is 44 days.

The young begin exploring outside of the nest between day 42-49.  By day 56-70, the female weans the young.

 

4 comments:

Coppertop said...

A fun to watch critter! They are so clever and certainly have speed!

Truthfully though all critters are fun to watch even the human kind!
:-)

ME2NC said...

For some reason, we haven't seen any squirrels lately either. Probably because we had no birds to knock the seed to the ground. Birds are back – we'll see if the squirrels show up soon. :-)

Nature Girl said...

Hi Liz, They can be fun to watch but can drive me crazy too. It is a constant battle with them here on keeping them from chewing on all the feeders.

Nature Girl said...

Hey Gladys, I would happily give you some! There is absolutely no shortage of them here at the house. It is happy hunting for the Red-tailed hawks this time of year with the trees becoming bare and the squirrels easier to see.