1. The Red Squirrel

2.  A red squirrel can be 18- 24cm and the tail can be 17-18cm. The red squirrel’s scientific name is Scirius vulgaris. Fact: Red squirrels are naturally found in Scotland

3. The fur, threats and food  The red squirrel’s fur varies from bright ginger to red and dark brown and can be tinged with black or grey in the winter. They have bushy tails and large ear tuffs.  The threats of a red squirrel are habitat loss, fragmentation disease and competing against grey squirrels.  They eat seeds, hazel nuts, tree flowers and shoots, mushroom and fungi.

4. The Red Squirrels young  Squirrels normally have 2 litters per year of approximately 2-4 young.  The first litter arrives in January-February. The second in mid-summer.  A red squirrel’s young are called kittens.

5. Where the squirrel lives  Their nests are called dreys, made of twigs lined with soft hair, moss and dried grass in a fork or above a twist of branches in a tree.  Their habitat is mainly in forests and broad- leaved woodlands.

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