Squirrels and Marmots

Order Rodents or Gnawing Animals

The squirrels and their allies include some of our handsomest and best-known rodents. They are active, intelligent animals, as a rule, with large bright eyes, bushy tails and strong muscular legs. Some species, as the marmots, are burrowers, though they spend much of their time out in the sunlight about the mouths of their holes, while others, comprising the most typical squirrels, are climbers par excellence, scaling the tree trunks or traversing the most slender branches with equal agility. This arboreal habit reaches its highest specialization in the flying squirrel which launches itself forth in its parachute-like flight from tree to tree, despising the support of slender branches upon which the other squirrels still rely. When one watches the rapid passage of the red squirrel through the trees and his sudden leaps from bough to bough, the evolution of the flying squirrel can easily be understood.