A squirrel of North American coniferous forests. In summer it collects spruce cones and stores them for winter.
It is small and red, and moves quickly up tree trunks and among branches.
Researchers surveyed American Red Squirrels in western Newfoundland, Canada, during the summers of 2016 and 2017. Across 257 square kilometres, they made 1,960 point-count and playback surveys. The first survey followed a year with abundant tree seeds; the second followed a year when seeds were scarce.
Squirrels were detected at 18.6% of survey points in 2016 and 4.7% in 2017. Records were concentrated at lower elevations, with none above about 515 metres. Fir forest also helped predict where squirrels occurred. The comparison linked range expansion on the island with both seed availability and forest conditions.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern · Global
The 2016 global IUCN assessment lists the American Red Squirrel as Least Concern (LC).