Fun Arizona Gray Squirrel Facts For Kids

If you are fond of squirrels then you are most definitely going to love this article!

The Arizona gray squirrel, Sciurus arizonensis, is one of the three species of squirrels that live in Arizona. They are native to the regions of Arizona, Sorona, and New Mexico. This squirrel belongs to the Sciurus genus of animals and is widely known for its fluffy gray tail that has a red or black stripe on the underside. This tail is quite an important part of their body as it helps them to balance themselves whenever necessary, especially while climbing the trees. The tail also keeps them warm during the colder season.

The male and female engage in a lot of running during the breeding period. Their mating cycle depends on the availability of food as they need the energy to execute the whole process of reproduction through extensive physical movement. They are herbivores and their diet usually consists of berries, seeds, nuts, fruits, and fungi too. Read on to know more interesting and insightful facts about them.

For more relatable content, check out these flying squirrel facts and red squirrel facts for kids.

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What type of animal is an Arizona gray squirrel?

As the name goes, this range of species is a squirrel belonging to the Sciuridae family and order Rodentia of animals.

What class of animal does an Arizona gray squirrel belong to?

The Arizona gray squirrel, Sciurus arizonensis, belongs to the Mammalia class of animals.

How many Arizona gray squirrels are there in the world?

This Arizona gray squirrel, Sciurus arizonensis is native to the regions of New Mexico and the exact number of their populations having larger males or females or even the young ones is not known.  

Where does an Arizona gray squirrel live?

As the name suggests, this large squirrel is endemic to the regions of Arizona as well as the western ranges of New Mexico. This Arizona gray squirrel range would find a few parts of Sorona serving their favorable habitat conditions.

What is an Arizona gray squirrel's habitat?

The most favorable habitat for this squirrel is in the mountains with deciduous forests. This species is mainly found in the hollow parts of sycamores, walnuts, pine, and oak trees in Arizona or the canyons and, valleys. Their habitat is easier to find in its endemic ranges with a good food supply throughout all the seasons.

Who do Arizona gray squirrels live with?

This Arizona gray squirrel, Sciurus arizonensis is considered to be quite fearless and social. This species of the large squirrel with smaller ears with no tufts finds it comfortable to co-exist with other animals in similar habitats as well as humans.

How long does an Arizona gray squirrel live?

Just like all the other gray squirrels, the Arizona gray squirrel also has an average life expectancy of 6-20 years.

How do they reproduce?

The mating season for these squirrels ranges between April and early May. The male is known to engage in female mating chases during the breeding season where males try to find a single female for mating. The Arizona gray squirrel's diet consists of flowers during the breeding season as the flowers help stimulate the reproduction activities better. After mating the female usually lives in the Arizona gray squirrel nest that is made out of leaves in the tree holes. The female then goes through a gestation period of around 60 days post which a litter of two to a maximum of four baby squirrels is born.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status is marked as Data Deficient as there is no exact record of the squirrel populations having larger females and males neither an account of the babies.

What does Arizona gray squirrel look like?

The Arizona gray squirrel is many times confused with the Abert's squirrel. One distinguishing feature is that the Arizona ones have smaller ears with no tufts. These squirrels have a distinctive gray upper body with a little brownish shade on the head and a few yellow spots near the eyes. They have white or off-white colored underparts mainly near the belly and a long, fluffy tail. This tail has a white edge-fur or an outline and there might even be a black stripe on the underside of it. The species is quite inconsistent with the size based on its sex. Squirrel populations having larger males in some regions and populations having larger females in other regions is quite a common scenario.

How cute are they?

Yes, this squirrel from New Mexico and Arizona is absolutely cute especially due to its human-friendly behavior and extremely fluffy tail.

How do they communicate?

This gray squirrel, Sciurus arizonensis is known to be noisy when it comes to announcing danger or alerting their species of the danger nearby. They communicate with their growling, barking-like sounds. They also use their tactile skills especially during the breeding season as they chase their mating pairs.

How big is an Arizona gray squirrel?

The total Arizona gray squirrel length range can be marked between 16-20 in (40-50 cm). These squirrels are twice the size flying squirrels that have a length of 8-10 in (20.3-25.4 cm).

How fast can an Arizona gray squirrel run?

Like the other squirrels, the Arizona gray squirrel in the regions of western New Mexico and Central America can similarly run with a speed of around 20 mph.

How much does an Arizona gray squirrel weigh?

The weight range of this species of gray squirrel can go up to 1.4 lb (650 g). The Arctic ground squirrel 1.15-3.30 lb (524-1500 g) is almost thrice as heavy as the former.

What are the male and female names of the species?

Females of this species of squirrel are called does and the males are called bucks as is similar for all squirrels like the fox squirrel.

What would you call a baby Arizona gray squirrel?

The infant squirrel can be called a pup or a kitten.

What do they eat?

This species of squirrels are focused in the forests mainly due to the easy food source. As they are herbivores their major diet consists of different berries that they can find on the trees along with a lot of different seeds, fruits, and nuts. Along with berries they can be seen picking up acorns, walnuts, and pine cones. Different kinds of fungi also make a good food source for them.

Are they aggressive?

No, this species of a squirrel with a fluffy gray and white tail is considered to be absolutely harmless.

Would they make a good pet?

Squirrels make wild animals and it is advised for people not to keep them as pets. The Arizona gray squirrel is a wild tree squirrel and loves to be in the forests with pine-oak trees where it can find food that suits its diet easily. This is also a place where it can carry out its reproduction and mating process without any hindrance.

Did you know...

Three types of squirrels live in Arizona. The Arizona gray squirrel, the Abert's squirrel, and the American red squirrel. The Arizona gray squirrel has been threatened in New Mexico due to the invasion by Abert's species with their tuft ears.

Are Arizona gray squirrels harmful?

No, this gray squirrel species from Arizona and the western part of New Mexico is one of the harmless rodents when in the outdoors. In case of indoor restrictions, there might be incidents where the Arizona gray squirrel damage the interiors and furniture.

Is the Arizona gray squirrel a tree squirrel?

Yes, the Arizona species of gray squirrel is a tree squirrel and is usually seen relying on the walnuts, pine, and oak trees for food, and shelter needs.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Indian palm squirrel facts and flying squirrel facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Arizona gray squirrel coloring pages.