The pungent aroma of the big green nuts filled the air, and the squirrels from the surrounding woods loved them. They were attracted by the perfume given off by the big green fruit and they stayed busy on warm sunny days picking them up and biting off the outer covering. Hiding inside the big green balls were the harder dark brown shells which protected the delicious nuts inside.
The bushy tailed squirrels scampered in the sunshine gathering the nuts. After Susie and her friends had cleaned off the green outer shell with their sharp teeth, they ate the nuts until their bellies were full or they buried the leftovers underground.
When the nuts had all fallen and the cold north wind was blowing, somehow they would remember where they had buried each nut and they would dig them up and have a feast.
Susie was an Eastern Fox Squirrel, and weighed just under three pounds. She had a beautiful gray and white salt and pepper fur coating over the top of her head and down her back and sides. It covered her outer legs and went all the way to her paws. Her tail, chest, belly, and paws were a beautiful rust color that was the same color as a fox. It was a blend of orange and tan that gave her a colorful appearance. It was that fox color that gave them the name of Fox Squirrels.
Susie had tiny ears that stood up, giving her an inquisitive look. She had large dark eyes that were good at seeing everything for miles. She could spot danger in enough time to quickly run up a tall tree and hide.
Her little nose was black and almost came to a point. Her paws were tiny, and she had long fingers and toes that helped her grasp, climb, and hold objects securely while she inspected them.
The farm in Madison County had trees along the fences. There were walnut, hickory, elm, oak, and butternut trees, and it was a perfect sanctuary for both fox squirrels and their gray cousins.
Fox squirrels build their nests out of leaves and branches in the trees. The baby squirrels are born in late January and early February and again in August and September. They are born with their eyes and their ears closed. They are several weeks old when their eyes open and they are able to hear with their ears.
The babies stay in nests until they are six or seven weeks old, and then they begin to poke their heads out of the treetops for their first look at the world.
Fox squirrels eat a lot of different foods, but the buds and fruit of walnut, pecan, mulberry, elm, and hickory trees are their favorites. They also like mushrooms and vegetables from the garden.
In the spring, the squirrels will fill their bellies with mulberries from the trees near the grapevines by the big house on top of the hill where the Hauschildt boys live. By late summer, most of the squirrels are deep in the woods feeding on hickory nuts. Later in early fall, they feed on the acorns from the oak trees. Then late in the fall, they return to the pond and the walnut trees that surround it. Then they have a banquet, squirrel style.
There is a stump near the pond, and Susie selected that as her perch. First she found what she thought was the perfect walnut. She grasped it in her paws, rolling it around and sniffing it carefully to make sure it was perfectly ripe. Then she climbed onto the stump perch with her walnut and began gnawing away the green husk. She turned it over and over with her paws while she cleaned the husk away with her sharp teeth, and in about ten seconds, she had a dark brown walnut in her furry little paws. Now she had a decision to make. Should she eat it now or save it for later? What do you think she did?
Well, if you guessed that she ate it, you're right. Her sharp strong teeth bit into the hard outer shell of the nut and cleaned away the pieces of shell until she was left with a delicious, sweet kernel in her paws, which she ate quickly and carefully, not missing a single crumb. Then she cleaned her face with her paws, removing every trace of the walnut shell and nut. She flipped her tail several times and hopped down from the stump to scamper off and find another walnut. She would find a hiding place for the next one and bury it for later.
Some squirrels follow a special route back to the woods where they hide their nut prizes in a favorite hiding place that only they know. Susie liked to bury her snacks all over the yard in random locations. She would remember where each nut was hidden when she got hungry for a walnut snack. Nobody knows how they remember where they buried the nuts, but they're very good at it.
Fox Squirrels have long, fluffy tails, which they flick up and down when they are excited. They and Eastern Gray Squirrels are alike in many ways. They have their families at the same time of year, build their nests in the same kind of places, and eat the same foods. However, Fox Squirrels prefer more open habitat, whereas Grays prefer good tree cover. Fox Squirrels spend more time foraging and running about on the ground than the grays do, and may be encountered in fields quite far from any trees, where a gray squirrel would not stray.
Both species feed on acorns, which are rich in tannins. Tannins are poisonous to many animals, including worms, but tannins keep the squirrels free of roundworms and tapeworms. You and I would get sick if we ate acorns, but the squirrels love them, and are very healthy.
Fox Squirrels accumulate another chemical compound, porphyrin, in their bones and teeth, which makes their bones and teeth pink and bright red under ultraviolet light. Here's a mystery: Gray Squirrels eat the same foods and this does not happen to them—nor to any other healthy mammal. It's another thing that makes fox squirrels special.
Susie's teeth were bright pink, indicating that she was well fed and her body had all the elements it needed for her to be healthy and happy.
Soon the days would be getting shorter and the cold north wind would blow. Susie would spend more time in the nest, where she would stay safe and warm. Fox squirrels do not hibernate, however, and you might see one any time of the year.
The End
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