Photo by Ed Sweeney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSo I am walking down a sketchy, gravel path in the heart of Ottawa today.\u00a0 You know the type of path where you expect to find used needles and muggers at every corner.\u00a0 I just start thinking that I should turn around and head back to safety when this big, black squirrel lunged out of the forest at me.\u00a0 Alright, maybe he just jumped out onto a nearby log but nonetheless he managed to scare me.\u00a0 I figured this would be a good time to write about my potential deadly predator, the Eastern Gray Squirrel.<\/p>\n
I guess you may be confused since they are called the Eastern Gray Squirrel but I said it was a black squirrel that jumped out at me.\u00a0 Well, this particular squirrel comes in two colour phases. Yep, you guessed it they can either be gray or black with the black colour phase being dominant in Ontario and Quebec regions.\u00a0 Interestingly enough this black colour phase is not found in the Eastern Gray Squirrel as you head further south into the United States of America.\u00a0 This has created some assumptions that the black colour phase is an adaptation to the cold weather climate we experience here in Canada.<\/p>\n
The size of this squirrel is usually between 38 to 53 cm (15 to 21 inches) but I am sure the squirrel that scared me was at least 6 feet long and weighed about 150 pounds.\u00a0 It is a good thing I didn’t try to run when I panicked since these squirrels are able to reach speeds up to 25 km\/hr.\u00a0 For the record I can’t run that fast.<\/p>\n
The most prominent feature of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, aside from their death piercing, beady, little eyes, is obviously their tail.\u00a0 As with other squirrels their tail serves many purposes.\u00a0 It will act as a rudder when they are jumping from tree to tree or as a blanket in the winter and an sun umbrella in the summer.\u00a0 The Eastern Gray Squirrel will also use this tail to let other squirrels know how they are feeling that day.\u00a0 It acts as a very important tool for squirrel communication.<\/p>\n
I am off to recover from my harrowing experience but I hope you enjoyed today’s post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So I am walking down a sketchy, gravel path in the heart of Ottawa today.\u00a0 You know the type of path where you expect to find used needles and muggers at every corner.\u00a0 I just start thinking that I should turn around and head back to safety when this big, black squirrel lunged out of the forest at me.\u00a0 Alright, maybe he just jumped out onto a nearby log but nonetheless he managed to scare me.\u00a0 I figured this would be a good time to write about my potential deadly predator, the Eastern Gray Squirrel. I guess you may be <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[348,925,924,4025,105,926],"yoast_head":"\n
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