The Red Squirrel is a small squirrel (compared to the Gray Squirrel and Fox Squirrel) with reddish to reddish-gray fur on top and a white underside. It has white around its eyes. Its tail is not as long or bushy as the tail of other tree squirrels. In the Summer, the red squirrel may have a black stripe on its sides.
Its curved front claws and powerful hind legs make it a very good climber and jumper. The Red Squirrel can reside in pine, deciduous (trees with leaves) and mixed pine-deciduous forests.
This mammal eats a wide variety of foods including insects, seeds, bark, nuts, fruits, mushrooms and pine cones. In the Autumn it will remove green pine cones from trees and store them in the ground. It also stores nuts and seeds in piles or under logs, at the base of trees and underground.
It doesn’t always find or eat all of the seeds and nuts it has stored. Because of this, the Red Squirrel plays an important role in spreading seeds throughout the forest. This animal also drinks tree sap from maple trees. It bites a tree until the sap flows out and returns to drink it after the water in the sap has evaporated.
The Red Squirrel is very vocal and chatters, growls and screeches. You can usually hear more of these forest creatures than you can see. Its bright eyes, perky disposition and chattering, rattling call add to the “personality” of the forest.