young european red squirrel

cute precious baby

Species: Sciurus vulgaris (Eurasian red squirrel; Eichhörnchen/ Europäisches Eichhörnchen); young of this year

Location: Olderdissen animal park, Bielefeld, Germany.

The coat of the red squirrel varies in colour with time of year and location. There are several different coat colour morphs ranging from black to red. The underside of the squirrel is always white-cream in colour.

A lighter, redder overall coat colour, along with the larger ear-tufts (in adults) and much smaller size, distinguish the Eurasian red squirrel from the American eastern grey squirrel.

Lifespann average 3 years in the wild, and 10 in captivity. On average, 75–85% of juveniles disappear during their first winter.


Status: wolrd wide: least concern, but locally threatended
listed in Appendix III of the Bern Convention. Fewer than 140,000 individuals are thought to be left in the UK, approximately 85% of which are in Scotland. This population decrease is often ascribed to the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel from North America.

In order to conserve the remaining numbers of the red squirrel, the UK government in January 2006 announced a mass culling programme for the eastern grey squirrel. This facilitated the natural recovery of the remaining red squirrel populations.

Outside the UK and Ireland, the threat from the eastern grey squirrel comes from a population in Piedmont, Italy, where two pairs (!!! YES so few can ruin a species!) escaped from captivity in 1948. A significant drop in red squirrel populations in the area has been observed since 1970, and it is feared that the eastern grey squirrel may expand into the rest of Europe.


The eastern grey squirrel population appears to be able to out-compete the red squirrel for various reasons:

* The eastern grey squirrel can easily digest acorns, while the red squirrel cannot.
* The eastern grey squirrel carries a disease, the squirrel parapoxvirus, that does not appear to affect their health but will often kill the red squirrel. It was revealed in 2008 that the numbers of red squirrels at Formby have recently declined by 80% as a result of this disease.
* When the red squirrel is put under pressure, it will not breed as often.

It is worth noting that the eastern grey squirrel and the red squirrel are not directly antagonistic towards each other, and direct violent conflict between these species is not a factor in the decline in red squirrel populations.

Research undertaken in 2007 in the UK credits the Pine Marten with reducing the population of the invasive eastern grey squirrel. Where the range of the expanding Pine Marten population meets that of the eastern grey squirrel, the population of these squirrels retreats. It is theorised that because the grey squirrel spends more time on the ground than the red, that they are far more likely to come in contact with this predator.

(info from: [link])

further reading about grey vs. red squirrel (German): [link]