Talk:Red squirrel

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Grey Winter Fur

The red squirrel used to be widely hunted for its grey winter pelt. --- The also in winter red English and Middle European squirrels are not hunted for their fur. --Kürschner (talk) 09:06, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are probably talking about the American red squirrel. This article is not about that species. Dbfirs 10:24, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is a lot of variation in coat colours. The winter coats of some subspecies are quite grey esp the far eastern spp such as S. v. martensi. There is less variation in the European and British Isles varieties. They were hunted extensively in Finland and across Russia and Mongolia. I believe they are still hunted in Mongolia for pelts. I can not find any current statistics for hunting in Mongolia. While I am here I think the description of the baculum incorrectly refers to the American red squirrel. I will correct it.Orenburg1 (talk) 18:31, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, no. If red squirrels are sometimes entirely or seasonally gray, that should actually be sourced and somewhere in the article. If the pelt hunting was entirely or mostly restricted to the gray subspecies, that should be noted too, ideally with which ones were the most commercially important. — LlywelynII 12:44, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Whcih red squirrel?

Is this the Eurasian species?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sciurus-vulgaris_hernandeangelis_stockholm_2008-06-04.jpg

No ear tuffs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.137.245.206 (talk) 19:55, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I think it's probably the Eurasian species, possibly a young squirrel that has not grown its ear tufts (and that would also explain why its tail looks thin). We get a wide variety of tail colours from almost white to almost black. Dbfirs 20:01, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

File:Squirrel posing.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Squirrel posing.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on November 4, 2015. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2015-11-04. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Chris Woodrich (talk) 00:01, 19 October 2015 (UTC) [reply]

oversized image of an unkempt, bored-looking squirrel (trigger warning: high-resolution aesthetically displeasing imagery)

Picture of the day

The red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia. This arboreal, omnivorous rodent feeds on seeds, nuts, berries, young shoots, and sap.Photograph: Peter Trimming

Archive – More featured pictures...

That's nice and all but this picture from the German wiki is much better. Any editor who agrees should consider this confirmation, go ahead and WP:BEBOLD, and replace the lead image with this one with a reference to the talk page. For what it's worth, it's also won awards (in its case, for being an excellent image, not just something to fill a spot on a random day). — LlywelynII 06:06, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Disagree. Both photos are lovely, of course, and both are Featured Pictures, but I prefer the POTD in the infobox for complementing the "summer coat" photo with a side profile. The one you're linking is also selectively edited to make the squirrel "pop" more on the background, giving it an IMO unreal quality. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 14:20, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not disrespect this poor backwoods country squirrel: no hair stylist, no beautician, and sophisticated city squirrels talking bad behind its back. Keep the infobox photo.Orenburg1 (talk) 17:00, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Red squirrels in Ireland

The lead says red squirrels are declining in Ireland. This is not true. They are thriving. The statement is very out of date and has no citation. In Ireland it is understood that grey squirrels compete for food but that this wasn't causing extinction, it was loss of habitat (thanks, British) when they cut down all the trees in the 1600s. They were successfully reintroduced about 200 years ago, long before the grey squirrels were introduced (thanks again, British). Red squirrels feed most successfully in coniferous woodland where grey squirrels don't feed as effectively (see source 1 below). I know that most articles have certain editors who feel a sense of ownership over the article so could one of them please update this? Sources as follows. Source: http://www.wildlifecrime.ie/pages/Squirrel.html Source: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0616/1147681-red-squirrels-comback-ireland-pine-martens-grey-squirrels/ Source: https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2020/06/20/news/take-on-nature-our-native-irish-red-squirrels-are-making-a-comeback-1978855/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.115.92 (talk) 01:49, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Black" squirrel

Whilst hiking in the Vosges mountains I saw a few squirrels whose coats were so dark as to be called black. This is unusual (I think) but these could be genetic mutants or something similar. Maybe they are immigrants. John Do'h 20:50, 4 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]