Winter Nibbles
by Wild Thing
Title
Winter Nibbles
Artist
Wild Thing
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This little guy was a regular visitor at my girlfriend's home. He'd come to the door and take the cookie right from our hand! Then he'd scamper to the end of the deck, nibble down the cookie, then come back for more. hahahaha Sadly, he doesn't come around any more. She is afraid he may have been captured or worse. A trophy for someone's home.
Squirrels are generally small animals, ranging in size from the African pygmy squirrel at 7�10�cm (2.8�3.9�in) in length and just 10�g (0.35�oz) in weight, to the Alpine marmot, which is 53�73�cm (21�29�in) long and weighs from 5 to 8�kg (11 to 18�lb). Squirrels typically have slender bodies with bushy tails and large eyes. In general, their fur is soft and silky, although much thicker in some species than others. The color of squirrels is highly variable between�and often even within�species.
In general, the hind limbs are longer than the fore limbs, and they have four or five toes on each paw. Their paws include an often poorly developed thumb, and have soft pads on the undersides. Unlike most mammals, Tree squirrels can descend a tree head-first. They do so by rotating their ankles 180 degrees so the hind paws are backward-pointing and can grip the tree bark.
Squirrels live in almost every habitat from tropical rainforest to semiarid desert, avoiding only the high polar regions and the driest of deserts. They are predominantly herbivorous, subsisting on seeds and nuts, but many will eat insects and even small vertebrates.
As their large eyes indicate, in general squirrels have an excellent sense of vision, which is especially important for tree-dwelling species. They also have very versatile and sturdy claws for grasping and climbing. Many also have a good sense of touch, with vibrissae on their heads and limbs.
The teeth of sciurids follow the typical rodent pattern, with large gnawing incisors that grow throughout life, and grinding cheek teeth set back behind a wide gap, or diastema. The typical dental formula for sciurids is 1.0.1.31.0.1.3.
Most squirrels die in the first year of life. Adult squirrels can have a lifespan of 5 to 10 years in the wild. Some can survive 10 to 20 years in captivity.
Behavior
Squirrels breed once or twice a year and give birth to a varying number of young after three to six weeks, depending on species. The young are born naked, toothless, and blind. In most species of squirrel, only the female looks after the young, which are weaned at around six to ten weeks of age and become sexually mature at the end of their first year. In general, ground-dwelling species are social animals, often living in well-developed colonies, but the tree-dwelling species are more solitary.
Ground and tree squirrels are typically diurnal or crepuscular, while flying squirrels tend to be nocturnal�except for lactating flying squirrels and their offspring, which have a period of diurnality during the summer.
Squirrels cannot digest cellulose, so they must rely on foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, and fats. In temperate regions, early spring is the hardest time of year for squirrels, because buried nuts begin to sprout and are no longer available for the squirrel to eat, and new food sources have not become available yet. During these times, squirrels rely heavily on the buds of trees. Squirrels' diets consist primarily of a wide variety of plants, including nuts, seeds, conifer cones, fruits, fungi, and green vegetation. However, some squirrels also consume meat, especially when faced with hunger.Squirrels have been known to eat insects, eggs, small birds, young snakes, and smaller rodents. Indeed, some tropical species have shifted almost entirely to a diet of insects.
Predatory behavior has been noted by various species of ground squirrels, in particular the thirteen-lined ground squirrel. For example, Bailey, a scientist in the 1920s, observed a thirteen-lined ground squirrel preying upon a young chicken. Wistrand reported seeing this same species eating a freshly killed snake. Whitaker examined the stomachs of 139 thirteen-lined ground squirrels and found bird flesh in four of the specimens and the remains of a short-tailed shrew in one; Bradley, examining white-tailed antelope squirrels' stomachs, found at least 10% of his 609 specimens' stomachs contained some type of vertebrate, mostly lizards and rodents. Morgart observed a white-tailed antelope squirrel capturing and eating a silky pocket mouse.
Uploaded
October 28th, 2015
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Viewed 1,831 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/15/2024 at 11:56 PM
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Comments (7)
Randy Rosenberger
I really love this awesome piece of artwork from your portfolio! I am happy to promote and comment on your works, as they are of a high standard of quality and creativity that I look for in representatives for our group, Wisconsin Flowers and Scenery. Thanks for being an active member and sharing your artistic talents with all of us in the art world.
Denise Fulmer
A white squirrel! Amazing & beautiful! Don't believe I've ever seen one like that before L/F
Wild Thing replied:
Sadly ... he is gone now. We suspect that he has be gotten by a predator (hopefully, can't bear to think that someone may have shot him). ;)))
Jeannie Rhode Photography
Sharing my Congratulations on your recent Feature in Wisconsin Flower and Scenery !
Randy Rosenberger
I used to practically live in the woods, squirrel hunting, to provide meat for our table when I was younger, but other than the common grey squirred, Fox squirel, and black, I have never seen a white or albino squirrel before. Thanks a lot for sharing! Definitely deserves this feature!
John Bailey
Congratulations on being featured in the Fine Art America Group "Images That Excite You!"