1, body type:

Squirrels are generally smaller, ranging from African pygmy squirrels, which are 7- 10 cm long and weigh about 100 g, to woodchucks, which are 53-73 cm long and weigh about 5-8 kg. Squirrels have no skin wings between their front and rear limbs, and their limbs are strong, with sharp claws on their toes and hooked ends. Female individuals are slightly heavier than male individuals.

Body length is 20 ~ 28 cm, tail length is 15 ~ 24 cm, weight is 300 ~ 400 g, eyes are big and bright, ears are very long, and there is a hair at the tip of the ear, especially in winter. Summer hair is dark brown or reddish brown; The winter hair is gray, smoky gray or grayish brown, and the belly hair is white. Slender limbs, long hind limbs, and sharp claws on fingers and toes. The tail hair is fluffy and often rolls back.

2. Habitat:

Squirrels mostly inhabit coniferous forests and coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests in cold temperate zones, especially in forests on both sides of hillsides or river valleys. Squirrels like to live alone in the Woods, and some still nest in trees. During the day, it is good at climbing and jumping on trees, and its long furry tail plays a balance role.

When jumping, support your body with your hind legs, keep your tail straight, and jump up to more than ten meters. Squirrels don't hibernate, but in snowy days and extremely cold weather, squirrels will seal their holes with hay and hold up their long furry tails to keep warm, so that they can stay in their holes for several days and come out for food when the weather is warm.

3. Food:

Mainly eat acorns, chestnuts, walnuts and other nuts, but also like to eat pine nuts, often go to coniferous forests to find pine nuts to eat, but also eat tender branches and leaves of pine trees, bark, fungi, insects, birds and so on. Have the habit of storing food.

Extended data:

Squirrels have a developed sense of smell and can accurately identify the empty shells of pine nuts. The seeds abandoned by squirrels at the top of pine cones have no nuts. Although the shells of these seeds have not been bitten open, squirrels can still be distinguished by smell.

Squirrels also have the instinct to store food. In autumn, when the seeds of Pinus koraiensis are ripe, they run around with pine nuts in their mouths and transport them to a safe place to hide. A few or a dozen are buried underground as food for winter.

Although the earth is covered with snow in winter, squirrels can still find their hidden food without difficulty, and some of them are missing. However, it is precisely because it is buried underground that it has not been discovered, which contributes to the diffusion and spread of Korean pine seeds and promotes natural regeneration.

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