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Tag: Kaibab squirrel

Kaibab Ghost Squirrel

Nowhere else on earth will you see the likes of Kaibab, or ghost squirrel.  Although you may meet its cousin Abert on the South Rim, central Arizona, western New Mexico and southern Colorado.  They haven’t seen each other in a very long time because of the Grand Canyon.  Kaibab is actually a subspecies of Abert and there are subtle differences to their look.  Both are tassel-eared and have a dark charcoal-gray body with a rusty spot on the back.  However Abert has a white belly and only the underside of its tail is white.

Almost all visitors to the North Rim want to know where to see the illusive Kaibab Squirrel.  I usually send them to the campground.  But all I have to do is watch quietly around my RV and will usually see one or two daily.

Kaibab squirrels live in about a 40 square mile territory in the Kaibab forest and have a definite love affair with Ponderosa Pines.  In fact they can’t live without them.  They build pine-needle nests used all year, not just to raise young, but also to hide in during bad weather or from a predator like Goshawk.  However, Kaibab doesn’t usually run up the tree it lives in.  Instead it jumps from nearby trees with crossing branches so as not to advertise where it lives.

The ghost squirrel eats the ever ripening nut in the pine cones all summer and into fall yet never caches away a thing for winter when it has to resort to twig tips, minus the unwanted cone bundles and bark to eat the living phloem beneath.  Ponderosa has a turp content, like turpentine, and Kaibab looks for the sweeter trees.  It’s probably happy when spring arrives and new flowers appear loaded with pollen which turns the squirrel’s nose yellow.

Plus that gourmet nose leads to another food source which grows symbiotically with Ponderosa’s roots, a microrizal fungi, which maybe even you have eaten.  Truffles grow about 1-3 inches underground and Kaibab digs them up to eat.  However, the spores of the truffles don’t digest, so Kaibab leaves them behind when pooping and that will increase the fungi which helps the tree.  These two have a pretty good thing going.
Any unusual squirrels where you live?
Arizona, Grand Canyon National Park North Rim, National Parks and Monuments , , 17 Comments

Lijit

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