### animal | vertebrate | mammal | rodent | squirrel | tree squirrel:

Black squirrel
* are really just a melanistic phase of Eastern gray squirrels
  - the 'normal color' of squirrels in Ontario and Quebec
* dislike being crowded by their own kind and the younger ones move away.

### animal | vertebrate | mammal | rodent | squirrel | tree squirrel:

Red squirrel
* Most red squirrels defend territory.
* Most red squirrels eat buds
  - tree buds
  - feed on seeds
  - gather food
  - get fur
* Most red squirrels have acorns
  - chatter
  - pitch chatter
  - teeth
* Most red squirrels hide in places
  - various places
* Most red squirrels live in areas
  - large areas
  - steal food
  - survive winter
* Some red squirrels depend on coniferous trees
  - eat seeds
* Some red squirrels have parasites
  - years
  - live in conifers
  - spread seeds
* are active in winter and cross on the ice
  - also susceptible to the parapox virus
  - at home in conifer forests and broadleaved woodland
  - caught for their fur
  - eaten by a wide variety of animals from snakes and birds of prey to mammals
  - energy efficient when foraging
  - far less rapacious and live at lower densities than grey squirrels
  - films
  - found on both coasts of North America and are common throughout Canada and Alaska
  - most common in the northern pine forests, but live as far south as northern Iowa
  - mostly active during the day, but sometimes at night too
  - much crazier and more high-strung than standard grey squirrels
  - plentiful in the timber along Deep Red River
  - protected in most of Europe
  - red-brown above with white underparts
  - seed eaters
  - smaller and redder than the more familiar gray squirrel
  - so dependent that population density is directly related to seed crop cycles
  - still present
  - the primary consumers of seeds
  - timorous and easily stressed
  - tree squirrels
  - unsociable, highly territorial, and aggressive
  - very elusive and spend much of their time in the tree canopy
* breed once or twice a year, depending on their geographic location
  - depending on where they live
* build large nests, called dreys, often in the forks of tree trunks
  - nests, called dreys, from sticks and moss placed high in the branches
* can easily crawl through small openings
  - eat certain mushrooms that can kill humans
* can have fur ranging from sandy orange to almost black
  - two litters a year
  - live for up to six years
* chatter and chickadees forage in the treetops.
* clip twigs and feed on vegetative and reproductive buds in the spring.
* collect food in the winter.
* cut and store mature strobili, eat yellow birch seeds, and also feed on birch sap.
* eat a varied diet, including insects and bird eggs
  - mostly seeds of pine trees
  - spruce and pine seeds, acorns, berries, fungi, bark and sap tissue
  - the buds in spring and store cone-laden branchlets for winter use
* eats the seeds and the terminal buds.
* get all new fur on their bodies twice a year, and once a year on their tail
  - excellent senses of smell, sight, and hearing
  - similar diets
* live in a very large area in the northern half of North America
  - areas where there are more conifers
  - both conifer and broadleaved woodland
  - long lives compared to their size
* make alarm calls when there are predators nearby.
* mate primarily in the dead of winter.
* prefer to live in shady northern forests with lots of tall pine trees and mushrooms.
* seem to be very solitary little creatures.
* spend about three-quarters of their active time above ground in trees and shrubs.
* store many seeds and nuts underground, in piles, or under rocks for the winter.
* take eggs and young from nests
  - naps, sometimes days at a time, only to emerge to feed
+ Squirrel
  * The most common European squirrels are red or brown in color, while common American squirrels are grey or black. Red squirrels are protected in most of Europe. Squirrels have many predators or enemies. Foxes and raccoons eat squirrels. Hawks and owls also eat squirrels.