Where does the Eastern gray squirrel live?
The eastern gray squirrel is native to the eastern and midwestern United States and to the southerly portions of the central provinces of Canada. In the mid-1800s, the population in the Midwest was described as "truly astonishing", but human predation and deforestation drastically reduced it, to the point that the animal was almost absent from Illinois by 1900. In the early twentieth century it was introduced to South Africa and Great Britain.
What does the Eastern gray squirrel eat?
It is a tree squirrel, generally grey, though its coat can also be brown, black or, more rarely, white or cinnamon. In its native range, it is the most prodigious natural forest regenerator, and ecologically essential. Its native range overlaps with that of the fox squirrel, with which it is sometimes confused.
Is the Eastern gray squirrel endangered?
No: the IUCN lists it as Least Concern. But in Europe it has become invasive: in Great Britain it has sharply reduced the red squirrel in England and Wales. Since 2016, it has been on the EU list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern: it cannot be imported, bred, transported, sold or released into the environment anywhere in the Union.
