Squirrels are rodents belonging to the family Sciuridae. They are indigenous to Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas and were privately introduced to Australia in the 19th century.

Quotes

• ... One day my dog treed a red squirrel in a tall hickory that stood in a meadow on the side of a steep hill. To see what the squirrel would do when closely pressed, I climbed the tree. As I drew near he took refuge in the topmost branch, and then, as I came on, he boldly leaped into the air, spread himself out upon it, and, with a quick, tremulous motion of his tail and legs, descended quite slowly and landed upon the ground thirty feet below me, apparently none the worse for the leap, for he ran with great speed and eluding the dog took refuge in another tree.
  • John Burroughs, Squirrels and Other Fur-bearers. Houghton, Mifflin & Company. 1900. p. 3. 

• The largest squirrels living today are the marmots (Marmota) of North America and Asia, including the well-known yellow-bellied marmot of the Rocky Mountains and the woodchuck of eastern USA and Canada (the "groundhog" of February 2). One of the largest is the gray marmot, found in the mountains of Kazakhstan. Marmots put on weight before they enter hibernation, and may even double their weight, so the animals are heaviest at the end of the summer. At this time, the largest gray marmot may weigh more than 8 kg (18 lb). The largest tree squirrels, the giant tree squirrels of Southeast Asia (Ratufa), are not nearly as big as marmots, but they are still quite large—ranging from 2 kg (4.4 lb) up to 3 kg (6.6 lb). With their beautiful long tails and striking coloration, these squirrels are an impressive sight bounding through the trees.
  In contrast, the smallest squirrels are the pygmy tree squirrels of western Africa (Myosciurus) and Southeast Asia (Exilisciurus), which are smaller than some mice. The smallest adults of both genera average approximately 14 or 15 gm (roughly 0.5 oz).
  • Richard W. Thorington Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele, and James F. Whatton, Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2012. p. 7. ISBN 1421404699. 

• Usually the red squirrel (Sciurus Hudsonius) waked me in the dawn, coursing over the roof and up and down the sides of the house, as if sent out of the woods for this purpose.
  • Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau, Henry David (1910). Walden. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. p. 362.  (1st edition 1854; The taxonomic name of the American red squirrel is now Tamiasciurus hudsonicus.)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Squirrel on Wikipedia
• The dictionary definition of squirrel on Wiktionary
• Media related to Sciuridae on Wikimedia Commons