Fox Squirrel

I'd like to formally introduce you to the little creature known as the Fox Squirrel. Many of you know that I feature squirrels in very many of my posts. I use them to talk about many different things. Usually when I talk about squirrels, the squirrels I'm referring to are fox squirrels. My evil nemesis, Mr. Nutz, is a fox squirrel.

Squirrels are actually one of my very favorite kinds of animal. Throughout most of my life, fox squirrels were the only kind of squirrels I knew, and they're still the kind of squirrel I see the most. These seem to be the most confident of the squirrels around humans, and they live in many urban areas. They also love small forest areas.

Supposedly they're also known as monkey-faced squirrels or several other different names you can find in one of my links. Like monkeys, people like to use squirrels in humorous stories because of their comical antics. Fox squirrels will interact with humans in all sorts of crazy ways. You can see some of my encounters with them right here.

Fox squirrels are mainly vegetarians, eating things like seeds, grains, fruits, nuts, and other things they can get their little hands on. They will steal that food from humans if they can, so they're often considered pests. A squirrel can get into almost anything because of their climbing ability and their little hands. They sometimes will also eat bird's eggs and even small lizards.

This particular kind of squirrel is the largest of the North American tree squirrels. They spend a lot of time on the ground, but they have little claws that make them very agile climbers. They can also jump as much as fifteen feet easily from branch to branch. I've seen them do acrobatics in trees that would be the envy of any monkey.

Squirrels are also one of the most curious animals. In my experience, curiosity usually equals intelligence. Fox squirrels are some of the most curious of them all. That's probably why they get into so many things. While in the forest, fox squirrels will come running close to me to see what's going on, and then they'll seem offended that I was there.

This particular fox squirrel in my pictures was perched on this stump of a branch when I found it. It was happily eating a nut until it saw me. When it noticed my presence, it stopped eating to turn and stare at me. I guess it didn't like me watching it while it enjoyed its meal. I don't blame it one bit.

After I got my pictures, I finally left it to eat its meal in peace. It was probably angry at me, but it didn't know that it was going to be a fox squirrel star. It couldn't know that I'd use it as an example of fox squirrels everywhere. It should have, because this little squirrel was a fine example.