IcWhat would our forests and parks be without the acrobatics of this playful rodent perfectly at ease at the end of the smallest branches and even in the air? Everyone knows the silhouette and facial mimics of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). Although it is suspicious of people and keeps its distance in principle, it does not hesitate to enter gardens and approach houses in search of food. If this lively and nervous animal is so familiar to us, it is also because its rhythm of life coincides with ours: unlike most mammals, it is only active during the day. When two squirrels come across each other, they can go on a wild chase, sometimes taking a game of hide and seek, head downwards, running around a trunk. As swift as ever, when the acrobat moves on the ground, it takes long successive leaps to the next tree. When surprised, it stands motionless on a branch and shows a great deal of restlessness from its eyes to its snout. At the end of summer, the excitement increases and the activity becomes frenetic. From July until October, it is the season for hazelnuts and then walnuts. During this period, the red squirrels get down working frantically. They are waving in all directions in the hazelnut and the walnut trees, eating on site or carrying their harvest to be buried in hiding places scattered throughout their home range. The animal retains an overall memory of the places where it has buried its provisions, but it is thanks to its sense of smell that it will eventually find its hiding place, or that of another squirrel!
