Alpha Animal Control LTD Wildlife Removal Toronto The Life Cycle of The Urban Gray Squirrel

September 30, 2013. Wildlife Removal eastern great, life-cycle, squirrel, squirrel removal.

Deducing from its name, the Urban Gray Squirrel, has a grey fur though it may have a brownish colour.

It has a bushy tail tipped with white hairs and its belly being white.

Its body length ranges from 23-30 centimetres (cm) while its tail size is approximately 20 cm.

The body weight of a adult varies between 400 and 600 gm.

Averagely it reaches its sexual maturity at about 10 months.

Annually, it has two breeding peaks, one in January and the other in June.

The male and the female engage in a ‘mating chase’ and after a gestation period of 40-45 days, the female gives birth to 2-4 young ones which are born blind, toothless, with no fur and destitute.

The young ones suckle from their mother and are weaned between 8 and 10 weeks.

The mother produces a litter of its young ones after every forty to forty five days.

The young ones, although they have the capability of feeding themselves at an age of about 15 weeks, they stay with their mother until she has another litter.

At times the young ones are known to stay alongside their mother throughout the winter period if born during summer.

After being weaned, the survival of the young Gray Squirrel highly depends on the availability of food.

Their fundamental foods include nuts (beechnuts,butternuts), seeds during Winter and Autumn periods.

During summer, they largely feed on fungi, berries and fruits.

On average, they have a life expectancy of 1-2 years although some in museum have been recorded to live up to 10 years of age.

Reports from the University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web has reported a case of a single female having lived for 20 years.

These diurnal are flexible to different environment and that is why they have encroached on urban environments with high human presences.

They have an increasing population hence minimal concern of them being endangered.