Talk:Tree squirrel

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Tree squirrel article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed Article policies Neutral point of view No original research Verifiability

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

This  level-5 vital article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Rodents Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rodents, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of rodents on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.RodentsWikipedia:WikiProject RodentsTemplate:WikiProject RodentsRodent Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. WikiProject Rodents to-do list: edit history watch purge Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Drafts Cleanup : Beaver dam • Bolivian hemorrhagic fever • Campbell's dwarf hamster • Fancy mouse • Golden hamster • Guinea pig breed Expand : Bolivian hemorrhagic fever • Least chipmunk (requested) • California ground squirrel (requested) • Lemming (requested) Merge : List of literary accounts of the Pied Piper • Mousetrap NPOV : Birbalomys • Gambian pouched rat • Golden hamster • Hamster ball • Mountain Beaver • Pacarana • Plague (disease) • Prairie dog • Rat-catcher • Syrian hamster variations • The Rats (novel) • Tree squirrel Stubs : Rodent stubs Update : Baird's pocket gopher • Beaver • Black squirrel • Chinchilla • Cypriot mouse • Eurasian beaver • House mouse • Rabies Verify : Acouchi • Aethomys • Ailuravus • Allegheny woodrat • American red squirrel • Anatole (mouse) • Anomalomyidae • Apodemus • Arctic ground squirrel • Argentine hemorrhagic fever • Armintomys • Batomys • Beaver • Beaver dam • Black-tailed prairie dog • Blesmol • Bobak marmot • Eligmodontia • Guinea pig • Mountain beaver • North American beaver • Tokudaia Wikify : Baird's pocket gopher • Golden hamster • Indian giant flying squirrel Other : photo requests Mammals Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mammals, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of mammal-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MammalsWikipedia:WikiProject MammalsTemplate:WikiProject Mammalsmammal Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Text and/or other creative content from this version of Squirrel was copied or moved into Tree squirrel with this edit. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

I'd like to see the specific reference that lists the tribe and genus "Marmot" as Tree Squirrels. I don't buy it, I'm afraid. But if there's a reference that includes it, I'm willing to go along. --Saukkomies ^talk 07:21, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The point of the list was to list all tribes and only the genera that are called tree squirrels, but evidently I had not made that clear. I have made an edit to improve that now. Ucucha 12:41, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm still confused about this. Since the taxonomy of Sciuridae is given elsewhere, why replicate it in this article, which I thought was only supposed to be focused on tree squirrels? --Saukkomies ^talk 14:35, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I supposed it was helpful to also list the few tribes that don't include tree squirrels, to emphasize that tree squirrels belong to several different natural groups within Sciuridae. But if it's unclear, we should change it. Ucucha 14:37, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was editing the article this morning, and found myself running out of time, so forgive me for just proceeding to delete the non-tree squirrel tribes from the article's taxonomical list without acknowledging your proposal of compromise, Ucucha. But now I have time, and so I wish to thank you for the spirit of working together that you showed in this regard. I do hope to continue to work on this article, and leave the rest of the squirrel-related articles to you and others to edit, as this is where my main interest in the subject lies. Indeed, I am glad to have the opportunity to contribute to this without feeling that I am intruding upon the vision that someone else might have of what the proper scope of the article ought to be. And so I thank you for the work you put in to finding a way to both merge and keep separate these articles; it is a brilliant bit of editorship, I must say. --Saukkomies ^talk 03:38, 21 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I decided to remove the text in the article that deals with squirrel damage to dams and levees. Here is the text I removed:

Squirrels are also responsible for burrowing into sensitive earthworks such as dams and levees, causing a loss of structural integrity which requires diligent maintenance and prevention. Squirrel burrowing activity has sometimes resulted in catastrophic failures of these structures.^{[1][dead link]}

The link provided is dead, and after searching through the host site, I was unable to find any reference to a page that referred to squirrel damage to dams and levees.

Another reason I removed this text is due to the fact that it is unclear to me that the damage done to dams and levees is due specifically to tree squirrels, but instead would be as a result of ground squirrels' burrowing activities.--Saukkomies ^talk 15:03, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am removing the referenced link that was cited as support for the female squirrel's "Spring fever" behavior, since it is to a page that does not contain any information relevant to this subject, and after searching in the host web site, could not find anything about this subject. Here's the link:

http://www.vivavegie.org/BernieandSquirrel.htm

I placed a "Citation needed" tag in its place. --Saukkomies ^talk 15:13, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not very satisfied with the way this article is broken into sections. I'm proposing to make the following change:

Current version of sections:

Contents
1 Classification
2 Relationship with humans
2.1 As pests
2.2 As pets
2.3 As food
2.3.1 In the U.S.
2.3.2 In the U.K.
3 In culture
3.1 Albino and white squirrels
3.2 Red and gray squirrels in the UK
4 References
5 Literature cited

Proposed version of sections:

Contents
1 Classification
1.1 Albino and white squirrels
1.2 Red and gray squirrels in the UK
2 Relationship with humans
2.1 As pests
2.2 As pets
2.3 As food
2.3.1 In the U.S.
2.3.2 In the U.K.
3 In culture
4 References
5 Literature cited

Comments and input are appreciated. If I do not hear back about this in a couple of days, I'll go ahead and proceed with the change. --Saukkomies ^talk 20:08, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the work you've been putting in here. I think all except for "Classification" would probably fit in "Relationship with humans". The piece of red and gray squirrels in the U.K. should really be part of a broader piece about translocations of squirrels by humans; eastern grays in the UK are the most prominent example of that, but there are several others. The piece about "Albino and white squirrels" does not fit well into "Classification" to me and should perhaps be a section on its own for now; later on, it can be incorporated into a section on anatomy. Ucucha 20:31, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think a bit of squirrel biology might go down well in an article about squirrels. For example, nut storage, raising young etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.38.36 (talk) 23:10, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for Hijacking this, it's my first edit... someone with the appropriate knowledge should include this info; Anyone who sees this and knows a Bio prof please help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.72.220.42 (talk) 13:43, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

An image used in this article, File:Eleanor Roosevelt with Soong Mei-ling.jpg, has been nominated for deletion at Wikimedia Commons in the following category: Deletion requests December 2011 What should I do? Don't panic; a discussion will now take place over on Commons about whether to remove the file. This gives you an opportunity to contest the deletion, although please review Commons guidelines before doing so. If the image is non-free then you may need to upload it to Wikipedia (Commons does not allow fair use) If the image isn't freely licensed and there is no fair use rationale then it cannot be uploaded or used. This notification is provided by a Bot --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 19:36, 6 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello,

I live in Western N.C. and have always had many Gray Tree Squirrels in the area except recently they have all disappeared. We haven't seen a Squirrel in weeks. Where could they have gone ? Or what possibly could have happened to so many all at once ? nolasbirdsnbugs Nolasbirdsnbugs (talk) 17:42, 18 August 2012 (UTC) 08/18/2012[reply]

-- AnonMoos (talk) 08:01, 29 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This article has numerous facts about squirrels randomly scattered about the pinpointed sections. For example, under "Relationship with humans:" we have "Birds, especially crows, will sometimes watch a squirrel bury a nut, then dig it up as soon as the squirrel leaves", and under "As pests:" one can find factoids such as "A squirrel nest is called a "drey"."

Since this article is a middle ground between Squirrel and species articles like Eastern Grey Squirrel, I thought it best to discus our intended scope before introducing more sections. Should some facts be left out of here in favor of other articles? Should we limit this article's scope to be about arboreal traits exclusively? Krushia (talk) 19:57, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see a reason to keep this article at all. It could be replaced with a redirect to Sciurini. Content could be divided among many species and genus pages and the family page. The content of a tree squirrels page should be information that is common to multiple lineages of tree squirrels and there's hardly any of that here. Does anybody have a suggestion for a rewrite that would leave this page both informative and not duplicative? If not I'm inclined to call for delete. Vox Sciurorum (talk) 03:05, 28 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The article seems to be lacking any info on how these animals deal with winter extreme cold in temperate climates. Here are a couple of links to sources that might help, but I can't locate more than the abstracts due to paywalls. N2e (talk) 21:41, 8 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

• Autumn‐winter energetics of Holarctic tree squirrels: a review, Jonathan C. Reynolds, 1985.
• Energetic costs of the winter arboreal microclimate: The gray squirrel in a tree; Byman, Hay, and Bakken, 1988.

There is nothing in the article about the size and weight of the typical small north american tree squirrels. N2e (talk) 17:29, 14 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Tree squirrel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20120106204400/http://www.suntimes.com:80/news/metro/8018878-418/driver-says-squirrels-made-him-crash-into-garage.html to http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/8018878-418/driver-says-squirrels-made-him-crash-into-garage.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 06:08, 13 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 4 external links on Tree squirrel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20081217060323/http://hgic.clemson.edu/pdf/pcwdtree_squirrels.pdf to http://hgic.clemson.edu/pdf/pcwdtree_squirrels.pdf
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20120504083202/http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/pets/story/2012-01-11/Swerving-can-be-worse-than-hitting-animal-on-road/52495428/1 to http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/pets/story/2012-01-11/Swerving-can-be-worse-than-hitting-animal-on-road/52495428/1
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20091001022309/http://wcbstv.com:80/local/ringwood.squirrel.myrtle.2.241671.html to http://wcbstv.com/local/ringwood.squirrel.myrtle.2.241671.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/20100125231330/http://www.ci.olney.il.us:80/Visitors/WhiteSquirrel.htm to http://www.ci.olney.il.us/Visitors/WhiteSquirrel.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 10:56, 14 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Tree squirrel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20091204073900/http://www.thelantern.com:80/2.1345/south-oval-kill-1.76692 to http://www.thelantern.com/2.1345/south-oval-kill-1.76692

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 14:18, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Tree squirrel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120526121836/http://www.squirrels.org/trapping.html to http://www.squirrels.org/trapping.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131024061548/http://www.utexas.edu/inside_ut/lconf/2008/10/albino_squirrel/ to http://www.utexas.edu/inside_ut/lconf/2008/10/albino_squirrel/
• Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.saveoursquirrels.org.uk/red-squirrel-information/the-greyred-debate

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:37, 30 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Tree squirrel. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131101235927/http://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/news/21576764.html to http://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/news/21576764.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 00:24, 14 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This line has had a dubious tag for ten years:

>A commonly given food is peanuts, but recent studies show that raw peanuts contain a trypsin inhibitor that prevents the absorption of protein in the intestines. Therefore, offering peanuts that have been roasted is the better option.[23][dubious – discuss]

I'm removing it -- uncooked peanuts are not safe for human consumption, and therefore would not likely be fed to squirrels either. The sentence appears to be taken from a website whose author is confused. 96.238.55.248 (talk) 04:07, 18 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please explain why you are removing the content I added to [[Tree squirrel|"Tree squirrel"]. Saying that it's non-constructive isn't helpful because the content is supposed to be constructive. Ultimate of Ultimate (talk) 18:44, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Suggest you take it to the article's talkpage. See WP:TALK. Eric ^talk 19:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I did [[Talk:Tree squirrels#Quotes from the section "Confusion about removal of content at 'Tree squirrel'" at Eric's talk page|that]]. Ultimate of Ultimate (talk) 19:30, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Moving my question here didn't answer my question. Ultimate of Ultimate (talk) 20:40, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

My suggestion to bring up the question here was to give you the opportunity to raise the issue with other people who follow this article. You can see from my edit summaries what my view is, that the info you want to add, if it indeed has value, should be presented in a more encyclopedic manner, not just an assertion with a link to a video. Eric ^talk 23:11, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

vCJD prions have never been observed in squirrels. A single article from 1997, which raised the possibility, appears to be the sole scientific basis for the idea. The 2015 case in Rochester was at first *speculatively* attributed to squirrel eating, and several media outlets like this one ran with the story. However, as documented here that case turned out to be sCJD, not acquired CJD--that is, not contracted by eating the prion. Furthermore, according to the same letter, written by a prion expert (Brian Appleby), "While prion diseases have been identified in several other types of mammals, they have never been identified in squirrels."

The use of the phrase "mad squirrel disease" in wikipedia is inappropriate, as no such syndrome has ever been described, except for in a speculative remark in some media sources.

Indeed, even the doctor who originally speculated that the 2015 case may have been acquired CJD now seems to think that was not the case.

If we leave the squirrel-CJD association in this or other Wikipedia articles (such as Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and Eastern gray squirrel), we should qualify it with the fact, as noted in the 2018 letter by Appleby, that the association remains highly speculative.

As far as I can tell, no public health authorities or wildlife agencies have issued formal warnings about squirrel meat and CJD. There is nothing close to scientific consensus that the association exists, and the preponderance of evidence appears it does not. It seems to have been a media circus.

How do y'all think we should handle this?

Acone (talk) 19:03, 25 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that the Risks of eating subsection needs a more neutral tone. As noted, all three 'references' cited in the second paragraph of that subsection pertain to the 1997 article. Consequently, the more recent 2018 ProMed letter by Appleby deserves consideration, per WP:NPOV. Woodlot (talk) 20:25, 26 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I took a stab at improving it. Any feedback is appreciated. Acone (talk) 19:20, 30 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]