Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The final proof, if any is needed, is the same as for the myth that red squirrels drive out the grays. If
the reds were successfully sterilizing the grays, there would soon be few grays within the red squirrel's
range—and that clearly isn't the case.
Grays are not only much longer and heavier than the little reds, but their size is exaggerated by their
long, bushy tail. This plume like affair can be quite splendid on a healthy specimen, partially because
the gray's tail is longer in proportion to head and body than the red's tail. When a gray is sitting up, its
beautiful tail follows the line of its back as far as the head and then curves backward in a graceful arc.
This characteristic elicited Winifred Welles's perceptive imagery in
Silver for Midas:
My squirrel with his tail curved up
Like half a silver lyre.
Both species shed their coats twice a year and simultaneously grow new ones, first in late spring and
again in early autumn. As in the case of birds, this process is known as molting. Oddly enough, the tail
in both species molts only once, in the middle of summer.
Considering how often these two squirrels can be found in the same sections of woodland, it's worth-
while—and quite fascinating—to see how different their lives are in many respects. Food requirements
and feeding habits are as good a place as any to start.
In simplest terms, gray squirrels depend on nuts as their most essential food supply; historically,
wherever nuts—acorns, hickories, beechnuts, butternuts, and black walnuts—are abundant, so are gray
squirrels. Red squirrels, on the other hand, rely heavily on the seeds and buds of coniferous trees: pine,
spruce, fir, and hemlock. Thus, even though they relish nuts where available, their range is confined
mostly to coniferous or mixed-growth forests. In a nutshell (pun intended), that is the most important
difference in the food requirements of the two species.
Of course, nature is never quite that simple, so there are many complexities and permutations of the
simple formula that nuts equal gray squirrels, while cones equal reds. Red squirrels eagerly devour nuts
when they're available and can subsist on them in the absence of seeds from cones. The converse isn't
true, however; gray squirrels don't feed on the seeds from cones, and so are dependent on nuts. In ad-
dition, a wide range of foods is shared by the two species. Fungi, fruit, many kinds of seeds, hardwood
buds, sap, and the inner bark of trees all are part of the diets of both reds and grays.
Both species also share another food source, one that isn't commonly thought of in connection with
squirrels. Far from being vegetarians, as most people believe, reds and grays alike are quick to consume
birds' eggs and baby birds whenever they have the chance, and grays are known to feed on forest-dwell-
ing frogs. The reds, even more omnivorous than the grays, go a step further and often eat the young of
small mammals such as mice and voles.
