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Olympic National Park
Douglas Squirrel Fact Sheet
 

Douglas Squirrel:

Taxonomy:
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order - Rodentia
Family - Sciuridae
Genus - Tamiasciurus
Species - T. douglasii

Habitat:
Found mainly in coniferous and old growth forests

Range:
Sierra Nevada mountain range in California northward to coastal British Columbia

Size:
-Smaller than American gray squirrels
-About 33cm in length, weighing somewhere around 200 grams

Diet:
-Seeds from various coniferous trees such as the Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, and Pine 
-Gnaw off the pine cones while they are still green, bury them, and eat later on in the year
-Also eat fruits and berries, acorns, and eggs of smaller birds

 

closeup of cow elk face  

Did You Know?
Olympic National Park protects the largest unmanaged herd of Roosevelt elk in the world. Olympic was almost named "Elk National Park" and was established in part to protect these stately animals.

Last Updated: November 14, 2008 at 18:12 EST