A tree squirrel native to eastern North America. Gray coats are typical, though dark individuals also occur.
The gray back varies in shade and may have brown tones. Males and females are similar in size and color.
Eastern gray squirrels switched methods when their usual way of obtaining nuts stopped working. In a captive experiment, a modified box prevented success with their previously preferred pushing method. The squirrels instead pulled—a method with which they had limited success in earlier tasks—and obtained nuts during their first trial.
The 2019 paper reported an experiment conducted in July 2015 with five adult squirrels at the University of Exeter, UK. Five levers carrying nuts ran through a transparent box, with one end projecting outside. Pulling a lever released a nut, which rolled down a slope to an accessible gap. Presented six days after their previous task, the modified box was solved by all five squirrels during the first trial. They repeated ineffective pushes relatively few times before switching to other actions. Each squirrel was tested individually for 12 trials. Their manipulation of the levers revealed flexibility in moving away from a frequently used method towards an alternative they had used before.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In Britain, where eastern gray squirrels were introduced, management focuses on reducing impacts on native red squirrels and woodlands. Forest Research describes competition for food, transmission of squirrelpox virus and damage caused by bark stripping. Its research objectives include monitoring populations and woodland impacts, investigating interactions with pine martens and developing population-management methods. The programme also investigates stand management as a way to limit damage and provides information for land managers.