Species: Sciurus griseus
Western Gray Squirrel
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Articles:
This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Rodentia
Family
Sciuridae
Genus
Sciurus
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Una Ardilla
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Rodents
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Rodentia - Sciuridae - Sciurus
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - false - false - Estimates of 95% minimum convex polygon home range of radio-tagged squirrels in Washington averaged 73.0 ha for males (n = 9) and 21.6 ha for females (n = 12) for year-round use (Linders et al. 2004).
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Diet includes seeds, nuts, fungi, green vegetation, berries and insects; acorns, nuts, seeds of conifers, and fungi are common foods. Gathers and buries acorns.
Reproduction Comments
Copulation occurs primarily in winter and spring. Gestation lasts about 44 days. Adult females annually produce one litter of 2-5 (average 2-3) young, mainly from February to June or July in California. Young are born naked and blind. Sexually mature in 10-11 months.
Ecology Comments
Population density may vary with food supply and occurrence of epizootics; density was about 2-4/ha in several areas in California, about double this in one area in Oregon (see Carraway and Verts 1994). <br><br>May compete with other squirrels for food and nest sites. <br><br>Bobcats, coyotes, foxes, owls, and large hawks are important predators.
Length
59
Weight
964
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-06
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-06
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?US.CA=SNR&US.NV=S4&US.OR=S4&US.WA=S2" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
Lake Chelan and Tacoma, Washington, southward through central and western Oregon, west-central Nevada, and the coast ranges and Sierra Nevada of California to the montane areas of southern California and extreme northern Baja California. Ranges to 2590 m in the San Bernardino Mountains, California.