Nuts! Well, Squirrels really...

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 12:06

Pioneer Library System - Monthly Picks

National Squirrel Awareness Week takes place October 5th through the 11th. Listed below are a few interesting pieces of squirrel trivia  -- and click here for more squirrel related literature from your hometown library.

Did you know that squirrels sometimes mass migrate? The earliest known squirrel migration was recorded in 1811 by Charles Joseph Latrobe. In The Rambler in North America he wrote of a great squirrel migration in Ohio: “A countless multitude of squirrels, obeying some great and universal impulse, which none can know but the Spirit that gave them being, left their reckless and gamboling life, and their ancient places of retreat in the north, and were seen pressing forward by tens of thousands in a deep and sober phalanx to the South …” Mass squirrel migrations continue into the present and the exact causes are unknown, though generally it is attributed to a lack of food in their home ranges.

According to squirrels.org "squirrel's belong to the order "Rodentia", with 1650 species, it is the largest group of living mammals.  It also comprises forty percent of all present day mammal species. There are over 365 species of squirrels in seven families. They include the tree squirrel, ground squirrel, and flying squirrel. Plus many squirrel-like mammals such as the gopher, ground hog and prairie dog."

Squirrels are found in every country in the world except Madagascar and Australia.

Giant Wooly Flying Squirrels (Eupetaurus cinereus) were once thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in 1994 living in caves in the Kashmir region of Pakistan.

 So stop squirreling around and learn more about squirrels!