Red Squirrel

Frankie is a red squirrel and is found in most parts of Alaska and Canada. They are also found in the Rocky Mountain states, and in the eastern United States south to northern Virginia and west to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio in coniferous, deciduous and mixed coniferous-deciduous forests.

The red squirrel eats a wide-variety of foods including insects, seeds, bark, nuts, fruits, mushrooms, and pine seeds or cones. Sometimes they eat insects, young birds, mice, and rabbits. A large part of their diet is made up of pine seeds. In the fall, they will cut green pinecones from trees and store them in the ground. It also stores nuts and seeds in piles or middens under logs, at the base of trees and underground. It doesn't always find or eat all of the seeds and nuts they have stored. Because of this, the red squirrel fills an important role in spreading seeds in the forest. The red squirrel may migrate short distances when food supplies are low. They also drink tree sap from maple trees. They bite a tree until the sap flows out and returns to drink it after the water in the sap has evaporated.

The red squirrel is a solitary animal, except for mothers and their young. The red squirrel makes its nests in a variety of places including hollows in the ground or in trees, logs or crotches in trees. The red squirrel is very vocal and chatters, growls and screeches.

Solitary - An animal that usually lives alone.

Coniferous forests consist mostly of conifers, trees that grow needles instead of leaves, and cones instead of flowers.

Temperate deciduous forests are most notable because they go through four seasons. Leaves change color in autumn, fall off in the winter, and grow back in the spring.