What's the squirrel habitat like?
Everyone knows that the squirrel’s habitat is basically up in a tree, but it is much more complicated than just that. After all, there are more than 200 different kinds of squirrels, and even though most people are only familiar with the common tree squirrel, there are also some species that live in the ground. Squirrels are very common in both wooded and urban areas, and they rely on several different aspects of their habitats for food and shelter. There are three main types of squirrels, and all 200 species generally fall into one of the three categories.
The common tree squirrel’s habitat
Tree squirrels are commonly seen in both urban and wooded areas. They spend much of their lives in trees, although they move just as quickly along the ground. Usually the common tree squirrel only comes down to the ground to seek out food like nuts, acorns, or berries. Tree squirrels also eat other food like bark, eggs, or baby birds, so they do depend on their trees as a source of food, in addition to housing. Some species even eat tree sap.
The ground squirrel’s habitat
Ground squirrels actually live underground in burrows and tunnel systems. Some of them even hibernate in their burrows during the winter. The diet of a ground squirrel is very similar to the diet of a tree squirrel, although the ground squirrel also tends to eat roots, seeds, leaves, insects, and caterpillars. Ground squirrels must be even more careful in their regular habitat because predators on the ground are much more likely than predators up in a tree. Some ground squirrels group up together and create a sort of squirrel network to warn each other about predators that are approaching.
The habitat of the flying squirrel
The third kind of squirrel is the flying squirrel, and this type of squirrel builds nests that look like bird nests. They may build their nests up on a tree limb or in a knot hole in a tree. Although flying squirrels don’t actually fly, the way they glide from tree to tree is much lighter than a tree squirrel’s movement, and it does certainly look like a tree squirrel is flying. Flying squirrels also have flaps of skin that look very much like wings, and they can glide for about 150 feet or more. Flying squirrels eat a combination of the ground squirrel and the tree squirrel’s diet, consuming insects, baby birds, nuts, and fruit.
Commonalities among the three types of squirrels
There are plenty of commonalities among all of these types of squirrels. They all prefer wooded areas, although their adaptability to urban areas is already apparent. The female squirrels give birth to two to eight babies at a time, no matter what kind of squirrel they are. The babies depend entirely on their mothers for two or three months, and there are usually several litters of babies in one year born to the same mother squirrel.