Jessica

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Have you ever seen a squirrel like this before? If you haven't that's normal because in different places there are different squirrels. Squirrels have different fur color, eat different foods, and sometimes even have different habitats. For example, the squirrel on the right is known as an Eurasian Red Squirrel. This squirrel is smaller than the Grey Squirrel, the one we have here in Ohio. One interesting thing about the Eurasian Red Squirrel is that it has orange and red fur in the summer, but in the winter it turns the same color as the Grey Squirrels - the Grey Squirrel's fur color is gray with a white stomach. Another squirrel with an interesting fur color is an Albino Squirrel. This squirrel has white fur and sometimes has very dark eyes. The Albino Squirrel can be found in Illinois. In fact, there are so many of them there, that Illinois is known as "The Home of the White Squirrels." Another interesting colored squirrel would be black squirrels. They can be found in Toronto, Canada and in Northern New York. But, one interesting fact about them is that they can live anywhere Grey Squirrels live! So you can see, there are a lot of different types of squirrels with very cool fur colors! ======

** [[image:flying-squirrel.jpg width="298" height="219" align="left" caption="This Flying Squirrel actually can glide through the air for 1,500 feet!"]] Different Types Of Squirrels **
There are many different and interesting types of squirrels. In fact, there are over 250 different types of squirrels. There are 28 tree squirrels, 2 types of red squirrels, 37 types of ground squirrels, 11 types of marmots, 22 chipmunks, 5 flying squirrels, 2 old world flying squirrels, and last but not least, 2 types of new world flying squirrels. One very interesting type of squirrel is the Giant Flying squirrel. The Giant Flying squirrel doesn't fly, but it glides. I've never seen a Giant Flying squirrel in real life before, but, after doing this project, I learned that it would be very, very cool.

Habitats ** Squirrels can be very creative with their homes. They can have homes in tree nests or inside hollow trees. A squirrel's nests in a tree is called a drey. Dreys are made of leaves, twigs, and grass. When squirrels live in a hollow tree, they usually use their extra space in the nest to store food. They also put their food in there to hide it from other animals. Squirrels who live in dreys hide their food in their shelter by hiding it under some of the leaves, and grass. That way, they always have food when they need it. Squirrels also use their shelter for hibernation. Not a lot of squirrels hibernate, but most squirrels' nest would help them keep warm for the cold winter.
 * [[image:squirrell_nest.jpg width="192" height="241" align="right" caption="This is a very well made squirrel's nest called a drey."]]

**What Squirrels Eat** Squirrels have a lot of choices on what to eat. Squirrels are not vegetarians, but they mostly always eat some kind of plant. They aren't vegetarians because they eat bird eggs, young birds, and small bugs. I never knew that squirrels ate young birds until I started doing this project! Other things they eat are acorns, nuts, insects, fruits, fungi, dried corn, bark, leaves, and mushrooms. Squirrels usually have around three or four meals a day. Squirrels eat whenever they please if they have a good environment that provides lots of plants and food around them.

** Squirrels' Talents ** Squirrels have many different and interesting talents. One of squirrels talents is that their average running speed is 8 to 10 miles per hour. There is an old story about a squirrel who ran about 20 miles per hour. The story is that an Illinois police man accidentally clocked a squirrel as it ran past a highway. The speed on the speedometer said that the squirrel was running about 20 miles per hour! Another talent squirrels have is that they can hide from hunters really well. They are good at hiding in general, but that is only because they don't do much but sit around and eat during the day. Also, squirrels can swim in any water. They usually swim like a dog, in a "dog paddle" motion. Squirrels have so many talents, I couldn't even fit them in this page! It is true that each individual squirrel has its own talent, some that only that squirrel can do. That is what makes squirrels special.

You can find some more interesting information about squirrels on these websites..............

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I found my pictures at.......

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