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Eastern Grey Squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

Photo by LauraMaria
Published on Project Noah
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51.8898, 0.901235

Field Notes

Description:

Introduced from North America to the UK in the 19th century, which resulted in the decline of the native red squirrel. Grey squirrels can outcompete reds for many resources, and can digest acorns (reds cannot). They also carry a virus, which doesn't affect them, but causes death in red squirrels.

Notes:

This guy was running around in a tree outside my apartment. He had a friend, and I think they were courting.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (4)
LauraMaria
Yeah, I imagine these guys are the most commonly seen invasive species in the UK! I moved here from eastern Canada when I was around 13, a place where these guys are native, so was super confused to find lots of them here... then I found out they weren't supposed to be! A shame I've only ever seen captive red squirrels...
craigwilliams
I suspect you may get quite a lot of these little so and so's for this Mission. So hard to divorce the awwww cute/respect feeling I get when I see them doing their thing, from the fact that they kill so many young trees by ringbarking them that they are also seriously inhibiting regeneration in our woods and forests. If I was a meat eater, I think I'd be eating a lot of these!
LauraMaria
Merci Luc! He let me get quite close, I had to stand still for a long time!
LucBertrand
From this point of view, you had to be pretty near :) Super how it is placed, it seems that it's going to jump on the shoulder :) I love your photo.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Project Squirrel
Mission
Invasive Species of the UK

Tags

Photographed
PublishedMay 10, 2011

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