Talk:Tree squirrel

Marmot subfamily?
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)


 * 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)


 * 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)


 * 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)


 * 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)

Removing text about damage to dams
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. 

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)

Removing link about female "Spring fever"
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)

Reorganizing sections
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)
 * 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)

Biology?
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)

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)

Our Squirrels have disappeared.
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



Old albino squirrel depiction
-- AnonMoos (talk) 08:01, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Major reorganizing needed
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)


 * 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)

Cold weather habits and dealing with extreme cold
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)
 * 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.

Size, weight?
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)

External links modified
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Remove line about peanuts
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)

Confusion about removal of content
Please explain why you are removing the content I added to "Tree squirrel"]. Saying that it's non-constructive isn't helpful because the content is supposed to be constructive. [[User:Ultimate of Ultimate|Ultimate of Ultimate (talk) 18:44, 21 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Suggest you take it to the article's talkpage. See WP:TALK. Eric talk 19:06, 21 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Okay, I did Talk:Tree squirrels" at Eric's talk page|that]]. Ultimate of Ultimate (talk) 19:30, 21 June 2021 (UTC)


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

sensational CJD association
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)


 * 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)


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