Least ConcernEurasian Red Squirrel
Sciurus vulgaris
47 countries9 parks
Species group · Mammals
WAnimals has 13 species of squirrel, in the family Sciuridae.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
1 species in this group is in a threatened category according to the IUCN.
Recorded in 119 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Its decline in Britain is down to competition from the introduced American grey squirrel.
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The grey squirrel carries a virus (a parapoxvirus) that is lethal to red squirrels but harmless to itself.
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It feeds mainly on conifer seeds, hazelnuts and acorns.
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It can glide more than 50 metres between trees on a membrane of skin (the patagium) stretched between its front and hind legs.
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It is the only gliding mammal in Europe, and its presence in a Finnish stand legally requires logging to be limited, which has put it at the centre of a decades-long argument between conservation and the timber industry.
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A cartilage rod at its wrist, known as the styliform, tensions the edge of the membrane in mid-glide and lets it adjust the wing surface as though it had a flap.
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It is on the list of invasive alien species of Union concern, which bans keeping, breeding and trading it anywhere in the European Union.
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Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 13.
It strips bark from trees intensively to eat the phloem: in the areas of Italy where it has settled it has killed whole stands of plane trees and maples.
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