Directions: Print out the animal picture and color. Cut out the pictures by cutting on the solid lines and dotted lines. Assemble the picture by connecting each end of the base piece with double-sided or scotch tape so the picture stands up. Print out the page with the poem and the facts and place it in your own poem book. Illustrate the poem. Write your own story or poem and add it to your poem book.

Squirrel Facts.

Squirrels are small gray or reddish-brown furry animals with long, bushy, flexible tails. They belong to the same group of mammals as mice, beavers and other gnawing animals - the rodents. They belong to the genus Sciurus and related genera, which includes about 250 species. Their front teeth grow continuously and are worn down to a comfortable length by gnawing and cracking nuts and seeds. Most feed by day. They also eat fruit, shoots, toadstools and mushrooms which they dry and cure in the sun, and occasionally birds’ eggs and baby birds. There are many varieties of squirrel, including the gray, the red, the fox, the ground, and the flying squirrel.

Squirrels keep their tails well groomed and use them for balancing themselves as they perch on tree branches or leap from branch to branch.

Squirrels can be found in all countries except Australia and Madagascar. Most common in the eastern United States are the gray squirrels which are often seen in parks and towns. They prefer living in deciduous trees, such as hickory, oak, and maple.

Squirrels are hoarders. They collect nuts and seeds and hide them in hollow trees or bury them. The seeds that are not remembered and dug up may sprout into trees. They are important to forests. They help regenerate trees.

Squirrels build their nests with twigs, leaves and bark. Their winter nests are in hollow trees. Most do not hibernate in the winter. In the summer they build their nests in the forks of tree branches. Newborn squirrels are not well developed. They are very small, have no fur, cannot see and depend on their mothers for several months.

Top