Talk:Fox squirrel

Old talk

Are the black squirrels in Princeton NJ fox squirrels? --kop 05:23, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

No. They are Eastern Grey (or Gray) Squirrels, many of which are black in northerly areas throughout most of the year. DGERobertson (talk) 02:56, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

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Aren't they also called Foxtail Squirrel? Im a squirrel —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.242.22.242 (talk) 15:09, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

no fox squirrels

There are no fox squirrels on this page! They are all gray and red squirrels. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.97.159.143 (talk) 20:17, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

They all look like fox squirrels to me; note the yellow bellies, among other features. Ucucha 20:19, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi Ucucha, The animals on this page are clearly not fox squirrels. Other than being a squirrel, they don't even resemble fox squirrels. If your picture was the one I replaced - I'm sorry. My picture is poor quality, but at least it IS a fox squirrel. If you ever get a picture of a fox squirrel feel free to put it up replacing mine. Until then, I think it is important to keep the information on this page correct. Matt edmonds (talk) 15:49, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

You seem to be confusing two southeastern morphs with the entire species, so I've restored the images. —innotata 17:27, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) No, it was not a picture of mine. But I think all pictures that were on the page (with the possible exception of the two Delmarva fox squirrels) are definitely fox squirrels. Fox squirrels have yellow underparts; eastern gray and red squirrels have white underparts. However, there is geographical variation in color in fox squirrels, and if I recall correctly Florida fox squirrels are very dark; perhaps that is what causes you to think that the others are not fox squirrels. What do you think they are? Ucucha 17:29, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

I must agree that is not a fox squirrel; the fox squirrel is an endangered species native to longleaf pine forests (an endangered ecosystem) the fox squirrels diet is primarily composed of the highly nutritious pine seedlings, which accounts for its size. It is truly worthy of better representation here. You would not use a picture of a pileated woodpecker for an ivory-bill -- its the same thing -- exactly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.46.234.83 (talk) 18:54, 25 April 2013‎ (UTC)

I believe you're confusing the fox squirrel species with one of its subspecies, the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel. Fox squirrels are not endangered, and are found in varied habitats. I don't think any fox squirrels primarily eat seedlings, or that this has anything to do with their size. —innotata 01:48, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Fox squirrels are nocturnal (at least partly)

Sorry, but they used to come into my attic and wake me up at night, rhythmically flicking their tails against the uprights. They can see enough with the ambient light of the night sky and also know their trails by heart. There is a hole which I left them, after closing numerous other ones. As locals explained to me (Native Americans who know their wild critters), squirrels will ``go crazy" if their entry ways are blocked. So I took down my back porch pergola which they climbed, and more recently, had all of the trees cut back within reach of the roof. They still jumped on the roof with a heavy thud a couple of times, but I made a lot of noise and chased them off. They have given up, at least temporarily, apparently the landing was too hard on them. -- And yes they are territorial. The sciuridae have been found to be not very close to muridae and in fact probably closer to primates, which explains why we are so smart, almost as clever as squirrels. ?'^) hgwb (talk) 19:54, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Hybridization

Do Fox and Gray squirrelsever mate and hybridize?96.35.80.195 (talk) 19:54, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Well this is just conjecture from personal experience I've observed around here in SE Michigan over the past 30 years. We used to ONLY have Fox Squirrels here. There were grey/black squirrels up north (read: Northern lower peninsula, all of UP), along with those tiny pine/red squirrels. About 15 years ago the grey and red squirrels started showing up down here. Well in the past year or two, I've noticed what appears to be a hybrid of a Fox and a Silver squirrel. It looks markedly different from the other species of squirrel that are around here, but it shares the traits of both the Fox and the Silver squirrels. I'm not a publishing zoologist though, so my personal observations don't count as references. 68.42.64.35 (talk) 15:21, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

White face fox squirrel

I have observed a large squirrel recently that has a very prominent white face. Looks similar to a fox squirrel and is more that twice as big a common grey squirrel.

Also have seen photos of a similar squirrel except has white on nose and ears.

Comments please.

JC — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.90.74.245 (talk) 02:57, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

Changed behavior description

Someone read one of the references wrong, I am doing a lab experiment over Fox squirrels and I happened to notice it. Hopefully I edited it properly, the original source said that they "are not gregarious, although they come together during the breeding season when females are in estrus..." and someone misinterpreted it I suppose. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OzymandiasXCV (talk • contribs) 04:44, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Hunting of Fox Squirrels

The article says, citing a single source, that Fox Squirrels are hunted more for trophies than for food (Footnote 6: Van Gelden, Richard George. 1982. Mammals of the National Parks. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press).

I dispute this and believe that with any effort of verification that assertion would be shown as erroneous. Typically Fox Squirrels are hunted for 2 or 3 reasons 1) To introduce a young person to hunting and how to clean and prepare wild game; 2) Simply to obtain a food that is traditionally consumed in many parts of North America; and 3) Because they are rather prolific and occasionally can become a pest in agricultural and residential areas.

While you will occasionally see a mounted squirrel displayed as a trophy, this is not nearly as common as shooting them for food. On some occasions animals such squirrels or raccoons are mounted as a novelty, such as in the pose of boxer and wearing boxing gloves. This is similar to the taxidermy of rabbits with deer antlers placed on them to create a Jackalope. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.0.34.36 (talk) 23:11, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Delmarva fox squirrels no longer endangered

The article for Delmarva fox squirrels states that as of 2015 they are no longer endangered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delmarva_fox_squirrel

The Mortality section in this article stating "Because of overhunting and the destruction of mature forests, many subspecies of fox squirrel (the Delmarva fox squirrel for example) are endangered." Should be updated to reflect the fact that the Delmarva fox squirrel is no longer endangered.

White faced fox squirrel

I spotted a fox squirrel that was mostly black and gray. It had a white tipped nose and white tipped ears. It’s belly was black but the rest of its body had some gray mixed in with black. It had a long puffy tail and looked extremely healthy, with shiny fur and wide eyes. It came very close to me so I had the opportunity to film it as it foraged and ate. I also got a video of it climbing a deciduous tree. A beautiful experience in Jay Starkey Park, Florida. 65.33.81.179 (talk) 14:31, 24 February 2022 (UTC)