American red squirrel

Red squirrels are loud, busy and territorial. Each defends its own patch of forest and a central larder — a midden of cones and scales that can build up over years — against other red squirrels, chattering and chasing intruders away.

They harvest cones in autumn and store them in the midden, where the cool, damp conditions keep them closed until winter. They also dry mushrooms by wedging them in branches, and in spring they bite into maple bark and return later to lick the sugary sap.

Red squirrels store and spread the seeds of conifers and eat and disperse fungi, including the underground fungi that grow on tree roots and help trees take up water and nutrients.

In the southern Appalachians they are a remnant of the northern forest that retreated to the mountaintops after the last Ice Age.

Mating — late winter and spring; some areas have a second litter in summer
Gestation — about 33 to 35 days
Litter — usually three to five young
Leaving the nest — at about seven weeks old
Independence — at about ten weeks, when each young squirrel must find its own territory
Lifespan — a few years; many young do not survive their first winter

• Red squirrels in cabins and outbuildings in the mountains can usually be kept out by closing gaps.
• Leaving cone middens undisturbed keeps a squirrel's winter food.
• A young squirrel on the ground is best left near the tree for its mother to retrieve.

• Red squirrels in Georgia are escaped pets. They are native, living only on the highest mountains.
• Squirrels only eat nuts. Red squirrels eat seeds, fungi, sap, fruit and sometimes eggs.

• Eastern gray squirrel
• Eastern fox squirrel
• Southern flying squirrel
• Eastern chipmunk