The Fox Squirrel is the largest of the tree squirrels found in Illinois. It gets its name from its color that sometimes resembles a red fox. Fox Squirrels have large bushy tail with yellow-tipped hairs. The Fox Squirrel eats mostly hickory nuts and acorns, but also tulip poplar fruit, winged maple seeds, ripening corn along wooded areas, open buds, and various berries in season.
Squirrels are popular for their cache, burying food for the winter.
Their gestation lasts about 45 days. The Fox Squirrel is most active in morning and late afternoon, burying nuts that it will locate in winter with its keen sense of smell, even under snow. The Fox Squirrel is not very social, although they may feed in common areas and several individuals may den together in winter. It spends much time in trees feedin or cutting down nuts or sunbathing on a limb or in a tree crotch. In fall, it is often on the ground gathering and caching nuts, usually individually or in twos and threes.