2025The Squirrel - Green Letter - Sheetlets

Well known to all, the red squirrel or Eurasian squirrel, not to be confused with the American gray squirrel, is the largest arboreal rodent in our forests. Its most distinctive feature is its plumed tail. Vital to it, it serves as a parachute when it jumps from one tree to another. It provides warmth in winter and, in summer, protects it from the sun. Its diet consists mainly of conifer seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts, berries, but also insects and, exceptionally, snails, eggs and small birds. In winter, it leads a slow life but does not hibernate. In spring, the female gives birth, in the hollow of a tree or in a cozy nest, to two or three young that she will raise alone. The red squirrel is classified as a protected species.