Grey Squirrel Adaptations by: Alyssa, Amelia, and Margeaux

Have you ever wondered how a gray squirrel survives in such a strange woodlands habitat?

I probably couldn’t survive that easily, and you probably couldn’t either!

That’s because you haven’t adapted to the woodlands, gray squirrels have adapted though.

That’s what I’m going to teach you about today.

When a grey squirrel is first born it has to adapt to its surroundings.

It may be because of the weather, their habitat, or the way they would have to live in order to survive, the squirrel does things differently.

One adaptation that Grey Squirrels have helps their way of eating.

Their teeth always grow.

It’s like this because they eat acorns, nuts and other goodies!

They use their sharp teeth to crack open hard shelled acorns and nuts.

They grow 6 inches every year!

But when they eat, the food wears their teeth down so they don’t overgrow.

If they don’t wear their teeth down enough, it hinders them from eating.

Squirrels are diurnal animals.

This means that like you, they sleep during the night and are awake during the day.

They have medium-sized eyes that are set high on the head.

This enables them to see predators from a short distance.

Here are some of the things that help them survive in the woodlands.

One adaptation that is very helpful.

The gray squirrel`s fur is the same colour as its surroundings so it can blend in.

Being able to blend in with its surroundings helps the squirrel to hide from its predators.

The gray squirrel can also jump 20 feet to escape from predators.

Did you know that grey squirrels are known to be quiet?

How weird is that?

Another fact about their adaptations is that they can group up and fight their predators together.

Those are some of their adaptations as a grey squirrel.

You have probably seen a squirrel’s tail.

It’s just a cool looking little bushy thing, right?

Well, actually, it’s not.

Squirrels actually use that bushy tail for many things.

Have you ever noticed that the squirrel’s tail looks like a big, fuzzy blanket?

They use that big, fuzzy tail as a blanket.

Their litter-mates leave them in the winter so the dray is not as warm.

They wrap their tail around themselves to keep warm.

So, it’s raining now and the squirrel doesn't want to get wet.

What does he do?

The squirrel uses his tail as an umbrella.

The long, bushy fur on his tail keeps out some of the water.

The water does seep through, but it’s good enough for him.

The rain has stopped and it’s extremely hot and sunny.

What does he do now?

He needs shade and there is not much cover.

He uses his tail to shade himself.

How much more do you know about gray squirrels?

I bet you never knew that they can swim for 2 miles in calm water.

Or that they bury their food.

This is only a very small snippet of information about gray squirrels.

If you want to learn more about gray squirrels, try a public library or the internet.

Some sites that I would recommend is National Geographic.com.

Also, if you look at pictures of squirrels you can learn a whole lot too. Bye for now and I hope that you learned a lot!