SQUIRREL SPECIES

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Southern Flying Squirrel - Glaucomys volans

From the Greek, glaukos meaning gray or silver, and mys a variation of mus, meaning mouse; volans is from the Latin meaning flying. Early naturalists first classified it in 1758, although it was described by early settlers, including John Smith of Virginia colony in 1624.

Northern Flying Squirrel - Glaucomys sabrinus

Sabrinus is a Latin name for river nymph, a reference to the Severn River on the west coast of the Hudson Bay where the animal was originally spotted. In some localities in the range, these animals are also called "fairy diddles." First scientific reports of this animal occurred in 1788 but it was not given it's current scientific name until 1801.

Gray Squirrel - Sciurus carolinensis

Carolinensis is a Latinized word meaning of or from Carolina, the American colony where it was first observed by European observers. The first published record of this squirrel was in 1788. Audubon was one of several naturalists who originally called this the migratory squirrel, in reference to it's tendency for mass migrations.

Arizona Gray Squirrel - Sciurus arizonensis

This distinct species of squirrel was named after it's principal range, the state of Arizona. It was first described in 1867 and named by Elliot Coues, an army doctor and naturalist.

American Red Squirrel - Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

From the Greek, tamias stands for one who stores or hoards. Hudsonicus is the Latinized word form indicating belonging, in this case, to the Husdon Bay, where European naturalists first reported it in 1771. The original observers called it the Hudson Bay squirrel. In the United States, this squirrel has traditionally been called the chickaree, a made-up word representing the typical call of this animal. Other common names: pine squirrel, fairydiddle.

Douglas Squirrel - Tamiasciurus douglasii

This West Coast animal is named after one of the earliest European naturalists who visited the region, David Douglas, who lived from 1798-1834, and also has his name on a familiar tree, the Douglas fir. Douglas, from Scotland, found his first specimen near the mouth of the Columbia river in 1825. Originally spelled Douglass, the was Anglicized over time. This squirrel was almost known as the Townsend squirrel, after J.K. Townsend, who collected animals for John Bachman, John James Audubon's collaborator. But Buchman, who originally listed the squirrel with Townsend's name, accepted the other name in 1836 when he learned that Douglass's discovery had predated Townsends. In 1847, another early classification of this squirrel labelled it as Sciurus californicus, named after the location where one was spotted, and then renamed Sciurus hudsonius [sic] californicus because it was erroneously thought to be a subspecies of the red squirrel.

Western Gray Squirrel - Sciurus griseus

Griseus is the Latin word for gray, but is also a term sometimes used to describe a grizzled color in animal fur, characterized by mixed light and dark hair. The first published record of this squirrel was in 1818.

Albert's Squirrel - Sciurus alberti

The Albert's squirrel, also referred to as the tassel-eared squirrel, was named after Col. J.J. Albert, a naturalist and military officer who observed and recorded information about western wildlife in the early 1800's. The first published description of this squirrel was in 1852 by Dr. S.W. Woodhouse, who encountered this squirrel while participating in the Sitgreaves exploration of the Colorado and Zuni Rivers. The Kaibab squirrel, a subspecies of the tassle-eared squirrel, is named after the goegraphic region it is associated with, the Kaibab plateau on the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Fox Squirrel - Sciurus niger

Niger is a Latin word meaning black or dark, one of the three color phases of the fox squirrel. Because the predominate color of it's fur, at least in one of it's color phases, was similar to the red fox, this squirrel was commonly called the fox squirrel. The first published record of this squirrel was in 1758 from an observation thought to have occurred in the southern part of South Carolina.