Squirrels are found almost everywhere on Earth. They are native to Africa, the Americas, Europe, and Asia, but not here in Australia.
In North America, the western and eastern grey squirrels are very common. In Europe, the red squirrel is more common, but its numbers in Great Britain and Ireland are decreasing. The decrease in the red squirrel population is linked to the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel from North America. I experienced this firsthand in September while visiting Cornwall. We were holidaying in a barn not far from Trewithen, a magnificent old garden estate where they are endeavouring to restore the garden and breed red squirrels in captivity in order to increase their numbers. I was very excited, thinking I was going to see some red squirrels, but alas we did not. Never mind, I still think their plans are worthwhile.
Squirrels do appear as book characters a lot! See here, but given how cheeky they seem to be they have become particularly popular as characters for ongoing series, many of which are in graphic novel format.
These series are in my school library:
Bear and Squirrel by Smitri Halls and Steve Small (3)
Wow SO MANY great books featuring squirrels. Thanks for another terrific blog post.
ReplyDelete