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Eastern Gray Squirrel

 

Sciurus carolinensis Gmelin -- Rodentia:  Sciuridae

 

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       In the middle 1800's Eastern Gray Squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis Gmelin, were imported from Europe to urban areas of America to provide "peace and calm" according to Etienne Benson of the University of Pennsylvania.  They quickly became a nuisance and by the latter 20th Century many public areas discouraged feeding them.  These squirrels have begun to appear in large numbers in urban areas of southern California after the year 2000.  They sequester in garages with open doors and in the motor area of automobiles that they can access where they store food, such as tree nuts.

 

     A prolific and adaptable species, the Eastern Gray Squirrel has also been introduced to, and thrives in, other parts of the western United States and in 1966, this squirrel was introduced into Vancouver Island in Western Canada in the area of Metchosin, and has spread widely from there.  They are considered highly invasive and a threat to both the local ecosystem and the native American red squirrel.

 

       Commercial repellants are used to discourage squirrels from dwellings.  However, keeping foodstuffs such as peanuts and tree nuts from accumulating outdoors is a good preventative.  The squirrels have been observed to feed on some outdoor vegetable plantings such as green leaf lettuce, although they shun green peas.  Some birds such as crows and jays have been observed to seek out the hiding places and remove the nuts.

 

REFERENCES:

 

Alexander, R. McNeill.  2003.  Principles of animal locomotion.  Princeton University Press. p. 162.

 

Anonomous.  1921.  The success of grey squirrels.  The Times. Times Newspapers Limited, 20 December.

 

Basic information about squirrels.  2015.   I.C.S.R.S.  Interactive Centre for Scientific Research about Squirrels, 17 November.

 

Bertolino, Sandro  &  Piero Genovesi.  2003.  Spread and attempted eradication of the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Italy, and consequences for the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Eurasia.   Biological Conservation. 109 (3):  351–358.

 

Blakeslee, Sandra.  1997.  Kentucky Doctors Warn Against a Regional Dish:  Squirrels' Brains.  The New York Times, 27 August.

 

Butler, F.  &  C. Kelleher (eds).  2012.  All-Ireland Mammal Symposium 2009.   Irish Naturalists' Journal, Belfast,  ISBN 978.

 

Carey, M.,  G. Hamilton,  A. Poole  &  C.  Lawton, C.  2007.  The Irish Squirrel Survey 2007.  COFORD, Dublin, Ireland.

 

Curtis, Paul D. & Kristi L. Sullivan.  2001.  Tree Squirrels, Wildlife Damage Management Fact Sheet Series.  Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ithaca, New York.

 

De Abreu-Jr, Fiedler; Silvia E. Edson, Mirian Pavan, T. N. Tsuchiya, Don E. Wilson, Alexandre R. Percequillo & Jesϊs E. Maldonado.  2020.  Museomics of tree squirrels: A dense taxon sampling of mitogenomes reveals hidden diversity, phenotypic convergence, and the need of a taxonomic overhaul.   B.M.C. Evolutionary Biology. 20 (1):  77.

 

Goheen, Jacob R. & Robert K. Swihart.  2003.  Food-hoarding behavior of gray squirrels and North American red squirrels in the central hardwoods region: Implications for forest regeneration.   Canadian Journal of Zoology. 81 (9):  1636–1639.

 

Grant, Steve.  2004.  The Squirrel's Bag Of Tricks: They Can't Get Out Of The Way Of Cars, But Other Behaviors Demonstrate Advanced Thinking (For a Rodent),   The Hartford Courant, 21 October

 

Hanmer, Hugh J.,  Rebecca L. Thomas  &  Mark D. E. Fellowes.  2017.  Provision of supplementary food for wild birds may increase the risk of local nest predation.   Ibis. 159 (1):  158–167.

 

Hanmer, Hugh J.,  Rebecca L. Thomas & Mark D. E. Fellowes.  2018.  Introduced Grey Squirrels subvert supplementary feeding of suburban wild birds.  Landscape and Urban Planning. 177:  10–18.

 

Huynh, H., G. Williams, D. McAlpine &  R. Thorington.  2010.  Establishment of the Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Nova Scotia, Canada.   Northeastern Naturalist. 17 (4):  673–677.

 

Kelly, John.   2012.  Learn to speak squirrel in four easy lessons.  Washington Post, 9 April.

 

Koprowski, John L.  1994.  Sciurus carolinensis.  Mammalian Species. 480 (480):  1–9.

 

Lawniczak, M.   2002.   Sciurus carolinensis.  Animal Diversity Web 2002.

 

Long, J. L.  2003.  Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence.  Csiro Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.

 

Long, Kim.  1995.   Squirrels:  A Wildlife Handbook.  Johnson Books,  pp. 144–146.  and  Big Earth Publishing. p. 95.

 

McGoldrick, M.  &  J. Rochford.  2009.  Recent range expansion by the Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis Gmelin 1788.   Irish Naturalists' Journal. 30:  24–28.

 

McRobie, H., A. Thomas & J. Kelly.  2009.  The Genetic Basis of Melanism in the Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).   Journal of Heredity. 100 (6):  709–714.

 

Murie, Olaus Johan  &  Mark Elbroch.  2005.  Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks.   Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 79.

 

Partan, Sarah R.  2010.  Multimodal alarm behavior in urban and rural gray squirrels studied by means of observation and a mechanical robot.  Current Zoology. 56 (3):  313–326.

 

Red and Gray Squirrels in Massachusetts.  2013.  Mass Wildlife. Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, 17 May.

 

Red squirrel conservation, squirrel ecology and grey squirrel management.  2007.  The Friends of the Anglesey Red Squirrels.

 

Sheehy, Emma  &  Colin Lawton.  2014.  Population crash in an invasive species following the recovery of a native predator: the case of the American grey squirrel and the European pine marten in Ireland.  Biodiversity and Conservation. 23 (3):  753–774.

 

Steele, M. A.,  L. Z. Hadj-Chikh  &  J. Hazeltine.  1996.  Caching and Feeding Decisions by Sciurus carolinensis: Responses to Weevil-Infested Acorns.   Journal of Mammalogy. 77 (2):  305–314.

 

The Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).  2006.  Grey squirrel Advisory.  7 February.

 

Thorington, R. W. Jr.  &  R. S. Hoffman.  2005.  Family Sciuridae.  In Wilson, D. E. & D. M. Reeder (eds.).  Mammal Species of the World:  A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.).   Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 760.

 

Tree Squirrel | Rodent | Southern Africa.  2010.  Krugerpark.co.za.  10 June.

 

Wauters, L. A.,  J. Gurnell, A. Martinoli  &  G. Tosi.  2002.  Interspecific competition between native Eurasian red squirrels and alien grey squirrels: does resource partitioning occur?.   Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 52 (4):  332–341.

 

Webley, G. E.,  G. S.  Pope  &  E.  Johnson.  1985.  Seasonal changes in the testes and accessory reproductive organs and seasonal and circadian changes in plasma testosterone concentrations in the male grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).  General and Comparative Endocrinology. 59 (1):  15–23.