{"id":864,"date":"2008-05-29T18:40:07","date_gmt":"2008-05-30T01:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/?p=864"},"modified":"2008-05-29T18:40:07","modified_gmt":"2008-05-30T01:40:07","slug":"aberts-squirrel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/2008\/05\/29\/aberts-squirrel\/","title":{"rendered":"Abert&#8217;s Squirrel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mnh.si.edu\/mna\/image_info.cfm?species_id=300\">Abert&#8217;s or Tassel-eared Squirrels (<em>Sciurus aberti<\/em>)<\/a> are large, tassel-eared tree squirrels found in <a href=\"http:\/\/plants.usda.gov\/java\/profile?symbol=PIPO\">Ponderosa Pine (<em>Pinus ponderosa<\/em>)<\/a> forests in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Abert&#8217;s Squirrels are strongly associated with Ponderosa Pines because these squirrels depend on them for both food (pine seeds, inner bark, buds) and shelter. Here in Arizona, Abert&#8217;s Squirrels are found in the north-central part of the state in places like Flagstaff and the rim of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/grca\/\">Grand Canyon<\/a>. In March of 2008, this particular Abert&#8217;s Squirrel, a cheeky, tourist-loving beggar, walked right into our Flagstaff, Arizona hotel room seeking handouts.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/images\/firefly\/2008\/May\/Sciurus-aberti-1.jpg\" alt=\"Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel (Sciurus aberti)\" title=\"Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel (Sciurus aberti)\" width=\"480\" height=\"542\" class=\"post-photo\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Abert&#8217;s Squirrel was not only demanding, it was also picky, preferring our cheese crackers over the bird seed that we had tossed outside for the birds.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/images\/firefly\/2008\/May\/Sciurus-aberti-2.jpg\" alt=\"Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel (Sciurus aberti) eating a cheese cracker\" title=\"Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel (Sciurus aberti) eating a cheese cracker\" width=\"380\" height=\"600\" class=\"post-photo\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Abert&#8217;s Squirrels are grizzled gray above and white below with a streak of reddish brown down their back, a large, fluffy, gray and white tail, and distinctive, long, black ear tufts that make them very easy to identify.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/images\/firefly\/2008\/May\/Sciurus-aberti-3.jpg\" alt=\"Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel (Sciurus aberti) climbing down a tree trunk\" title=\"Abert's or Tassel-eared Squirrel (Sciurus aberti) climbing down a tree trunk\" width=\"380\" height=\"600\" class=\"post-photo\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An unusual-looking subspecies of Abert&#8217;s Squirrel, the Kaibab Squirrel (<em>S. aberti kaibabensis<\/em>) with black undersides and a mostly white tail is found on the north rim of Arizona&#8217;s Grand Canyon. Unlike the north rim Abert&#8217;s Squirrels, those found on the south rim look like this one from Flagstaff. The Grand Canyon has acted as a genetic barrier between these two Abert&#8217;s Squirrel populations, preventing interbreeding and allowing the unusual-looking Kaibab Squirrel subspecies to develop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abert&#8217;s or Tassel-eared Squirrels (Sciurus aberti) are large, tassel-eared tree squirrels found in Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Abert&#8217;s Squirrels are strongly associated with Ponderosa Pines because these squirrels depend on them for both food (pine seeds, inner bark, buds) and shelter. Here in Arizona, Abert&#8217;s&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/2008\/05\/29\/aberts-squirrel\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More &rarr; <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arizona-mammals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}