The most-common species of squirrel in South Carolina is the eastern gray squirrel, which average 1 to 1 1/2 pounds and 16 to 20 inches in length.
Their diet is made up of mostly seeds, nuts and buds, and they prefer living in hardwood forests or a mixture of hardwoods and pines.
Gray squirrels will make leaf nests in the crooks of trees for homes, or they’ll live in the cavaties of trees in dens. While they will raise young in either, litter survival is considerably higher in dens. Gray squirrels have a short life span that averages 1 to 2 years.
Less common is the Southern fox squirrel. These bigger cousins of the gray squirrel grow to 28 inches in length and can weigh two to three pounds. Besides being larger than gray squirrels, fox squirrels have variations of color patterns ranging from black to gray to red to brown. Most fox squirrels also have black heads with white noses. Some have white patches and some are striped.
Their life expectancy is three to four years, and they prefer to live in old-growth pine stands or among mature pines mixed in with hardwoods. They eat a mixture of farm crops, acorns and other nuts.
Gray squirrels are abundant throughout South Carolina; fox squirrels are scattered across the state in smaller numbers and are virtually absent from the foothills of the Upstate.
Billy Dukes, small-game coordinator of S.C. Department of Natural Resources, said hunting pressure has little effect on the population of gray squirrels, but because of lower reproductive rates, it can damage the population of fox squirrels.
South Carolina outdoorsmen are encouraged to participate in the SCDNR’s biannual fox squirrel sighting survey. Email Dukes at dukesb@dnr.sc.gov for info.
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