Eastern gray squirrel
A gray acrobat of the oak woods that buries nuts one by one and sometimes forgets where, sprouting new forests by accident.
Eastern gray squirrel at a glance
Sciurus carolinensis eastern gray squirrel is EE-stern GRAY SKWIR-ul; Sciurus carolinensis is sy-YUR-us kair-oh-lin-EN-sis
- Type
- Mammal · squirrel (rodent)
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Size
- Head and body about the length of a dollar bill, and with the bushy tail about as long as a football (15 to 21 inches). It weighs about a pound.
- Lifespan
- Up to about 12 years in the wild; a captive squirrel passed 20.
- Conservation
- Least concern (IUCN); not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
Eats acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, beechnuts, buds, mushrooms, insects
A gray squirrel scatter-hoards: it buries single nuts in many small holes instead of one big pile, then finds them again using memory and smell. The ones it forgets can sprout, which is exactly how it plants oak forests one nut at a time.
Should you worry?
Nearly none. Squirrels will run right up to people for food, and that is the danger: hand-feeding teaches them to beg, and a cornered squirrel bites. Keep food packed and they stay wild and safe.
Sit still on the trail at New River Gorge and the gray squirrel will practically come to you, because it is too busy to notice you: it digs a small hole with its front paws, drops in a single acorn, pats the earth flat with its paws, and sprints ten feet away to start the whole routine over. That is scatter-hoarding, and it is the opposite of buried treasure. Instead of one big pile a thief could find, the squirrel spreads its food across a whole neighborhood of separate, forgettable holes, then relies on memory and smell to recover most of it by winter.
The honest part is “most.” A gray squirrel buries thousands of nuts a season and cannot remember them all, and every forgotten acorn is a future oak. Parks full of oaks are partly squirrel work, planted one buried-and-forgotten nut at a time. The same busy work explains the squirrel you’ll see sprinting headfirst down a trunk (it rotates its back feet so its claws hook the bark) and the black squirrel in a park’s northern corner, which is not a different species but the same gray squirrel wearing a dark color form called melanism.
Watch the paw-pattening, leave your food packed so the squirrel stays wild, and remember the accidental forest below your feet. Squirrels may not intend to plant trees, but they are the best arborists the oaks ever had.
Did you know?
- Black squirrels aren't a different species; they're eastern gray squirrels with a dark color form called melanism.
- A squirrel's seed-caching is real forest work: buried, forgotten acorns grow into the next generation of oak trees.
- Squirrels find buried nuts using both memory and smell, which is how they recover most of what they hid before winter.
Common questions
Why do squirrels bury nuts one at a time?
Scatter-hoarding. Many small hiding spots are harder for thieves to find than one big pile, so the squirrel spreads its food around.
Do squirrels remember where all their nuts are?
Not all of them. They use memory and smell to find most caches, and the ones they forget may sprout into new trees.
Are black squirrels real?
Yes, but they're the same species. A black squirrel is an eastern gray squirrel with a dark color form called melanism.
Can a squirrel really come down a tree headfirst?
Yes. It rotates its back feet so its claws hook the bark, letting it run down a trunk headfirst.