There are over 50 genera and 270 species of squirrels that can be found in suburbs and big cities to the Arctic tundra and tropical rainforests, including a variety of flying squirrels to tree squirrels. The size of squirrels is diverse too as they range in various sizes from the 3 feet red-and-white giant flying squirrel to the 5-inch African pygmy squirrel.
Their front teeth never stop developing and can grow at the rate of 6 inches each year.
Squirrels have been responsible for hundreds of power disruptions across America in the last 30 years, including the NASDAQ stock market outages in 1987 and 1994. It is said that they have taken down the power grid more times than the hackers.
Squirrels run in a zigzag pattern when they are under attack or feel threatened which is a suitable tactic to escape vultures as well as other wild predators and act to bury a nut to confuse thieves who intend to steal their food.
Squirrels are athletic and intelligent and they put on weight during the winters to keep themselves warm. They have contributed to planting hundreds of trees around the globe unknowingly as they often forget to dig up their buried nuts which results in trees.
Squirrels are talkative and they communicate with each other using a complex system of high-frequency chirps and tail movements. Studies show that they’re also capable of watching and learning from each other, especially when it comes to stealing food.