EcoPhoto4: Blake Davis

I found this squirrel while walking to class by the Lownik building, on November 14th. I see many of these squirrels on campus. I chose to use the squirrel as my ecophoto because they are important to the environment. After taking the photo I was curious to see which type of squirrel it was. I found out that this is a Fox Squirrel. There are two types of squirrels in Illinois. The Grey Squirrel and the Fox Squirrel. They are very similar but the fox squirrel has a reddish or orange belly compared to the Grey squirrel. Both of the squirrels in Illinois are very important for keeping forests alive. Many of these squirrels eat small seeds and nuts for their diet. They leave behind many seeds in the ground for the cold weather. Some of the seeds are left behind and never dug back up. These eventually become the trees you see in forests. Without these squirrels, our forests would not have trees as they do today. Another thing that squirrels are good for is their aid in the food chain. Many bigger animals prey on them like snakes, hawks, eagles, coyotes, and other mammals. They are preyed on by many animals and without them, the ecosystem would fail. Squirrels may seem crazy and annoying but they are very important to our environment and our forests.

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