Squarels

                        Squirrels
                      By: Priya Arumugam








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                                        History of squirrels:

The squirrels common name came from the Ancient Greeks. Aristotle used the word “skiouros”. Skia means shade and oura means tail. Skiouros basically meant “he who sits in the shadow of his tail”. Centuries later, the French created a word to describe the animal. The word was “esquirel”. That’s where they got the word squirrel from. There are about 365 types of squirrels in the world. They are divided into seven families. There are the tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, woodchucks, flying squirrels, and praire dogs. The three most common are the ground squirrels, the flying squirrels, and the tree squirrels.







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                                                        Birth:

At birth, squirrels are blind, but they have perfect vision as adults. Female squirrels can have two to eight babies at once. The babies depend on their mother for food and milk for a couple of months. Baby squirrels are called kittens. Kittens are born only twice a year. Once in the spring and once at the end of summer.



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                                          Food:

Squirrels eat nuts, small insects, roots, tree bark, leaves and acorns. Squirrels gather and save food throughout the year, but especially in the autumn time. Squirrels collect food just before winter so that they have enough to last them. They bury all the food and when winter ends, they go look for the food they buried.





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                                                        Appearance:

Some squirrels are dark, and others can have white stripes down their back. Squirrels are only a few inches bigger than a teacup. The smallest squirrel is only about 10 centimeters long! The longest is about 73 centimeters long. They...