Ardilla roja americana
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
Mamífero
La ruidosa y territorial ardilla roja de los bosques boreales y de montaña de coníferas, y la contrapartida oriental de la ardilla de Douglas de la costa del Pacífico. Desde finales del verano corta los conos verdes antes de que puedan abrirse y los almacena en una despensa: un montículo húmedo de escamas roídas al pie de un árbol, donde los conos permanecen cerrados y la semilla se conserva durante el invierno. Cada ardilla defiende una despensa, y lo proclama sin descanso.
Plan para esta especie
Conjunto de plantas aptas para Chicago, IL: primero plantas hospedantes y especialistas, luego plantas de néctar, fruto, semilla, follaje y refugio que también encajan con la lectura climática actual y de mediados de siglo.
0 relaciones esenciales / 5 plantas de apoyo
Enlaces hospedador/especialista: 0
Enlaces forraje/polinización: 5
Enlaces de refugio: 0
Roles de relación: 1
Tsuga del Canadá
De apoyo / Plantas con semillas
Cuts and middens hemlock cones along with the spruce and fir it grows among.
Pino blanco del este
De apoyo / Plantas con semillas
Cuts green cones before they open and stockpiles them in a damp midden at the base of a tree, where the closed cones keep the seed through winter.
Pícea de Noruega
De apoyo / Plantas con semillas
Cuts the green cones and middens them at the foot of a tree; a spruce stand with a red squirrel in it usually has the pile of stripped scales to show for it.
Abeto de Fraser
De apoyo / Plantas con semillas
Cuts green fir cones in late summer and middens them at the base of a tree. In the southern Appalachian spruce-fir it is the main cone predator, and the middens are the obvious field sign.
Pícea oriental
De apoyo / Plantas con semillas
Red squirrels cut green spruce cones before they open and cache them in middens, and a planted spruce in range is fair game whatever continent it came from - the pile of stripped scales at the base is the usual first evidence. Plausible rather than documented on this species; the cones are smaller than Norway spruce cones, which makes the tree a less rewarding larder than the neighbour it is often planted beside.
Plantas en el catálogo
Plantas con semillas · 9
The Wildflower Center records squirrels eating the seed, and the red squirrel is the main cone predator of the eastern boreal forest. It cuts green cones in late summer, before they shatter, and caches them in middens at the base of a tree - a heap of shredded scales and cores at the foot of a fir is the obvious field sign and is worth looking for when identifying the tree.
Cuts and middens hemlock cones along with the spruce and fir it grows among.
Cuts green cones before they open and stockpiles them in a damp midden at the base of a tree, where the closed cones keep the seed through winter.
Cuts green fir cones in late summer and middens them at the base of a tree. In the southern Appalachian spruce-fir it is the main cone predator, and the middens are the obvious field sign.
The interior counterpart, taking over from the Douglas squirrel east of the Cascade crest through the Rocky Mountain range of the interior form of grand fir, and caching green cones in the same way. Which squirrel you see in a grand fir stand is a reliable indicator of which side of the mountains you are standing on.
Cuts the green cones and middens them at the foot of a tree; a spruce stand with a red squirrel in it usually has the pile of stripped scales to show for it.
Red squirrels cut green spruce cones before they open and cache them in middens, and a planted spruce in range is fair game whatever continent it came from - the pile of stripped scales at the base is the usual first evidence. Plausible rather than documented on this species; the cones are smaller than Norway spruce cones, which makes the tree a less rewarding larder than the neighbour it is often planted beside.
The red squirrel is the most consequential seed predator on this species and it does not wait for the cones to open. It cuts green cones in late summer and stockpiles them in a midden - a damp mound of stripped scales at the base of a tree, where cones stay shut and the seed keeps through winter. It also clips twigs and terminal buds and eats both reproductive and vegetative buds. Field studies record mice and voles preferring red and white spruce seed over balsam fir seed, so a mast crop is under pressure from the ground as well as the canopy.
The cone-cutter of the Rocky Mountain half of this range. It cuts green cones before they can disintegrate and stockpiles them in damp middens, where the still-closed cones keep their seed - a strategy that works specifically because a fir cone falls apart if it is left on the tree to ripen. The heaped piles of stripped scales at the base of a subalpine fir are its most obvious field sign.
Distribución
Bosques boreales y de montaña, de coníferas y mixtos, desde Alaska y Canadá hacia el sur por las Montañas Rocosas, los Grandes Lagos y Nueva Inglaterra, y por los Apalaches hasta los bosques meridionales de picea y abeto. Sustituye a la ardilla de Douglas al este de las cordilleras del Pacífico.
Fuentes y citas
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Usa esta cita para el registro de fauna de Plotwright. Usa las tarjetas de fuentes de abajo para explorar las referencias que informaron su taxonomía, distribución, conservación, plantas hospederas, forraje y hábitat.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Ardilla roja americana (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/american-red-squirrel
Fuentes utilizadas para este registro
Este registro se elaboró a partir de las fuentes de abajo.
Animal Diversity Web: Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
Species account for cone cutting, midden caching, territorial defence, and the boreal-to-montane distribution.
GBIF: Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
GBIF backbone key 2437282 is an exact accepted match for Tamiasciurus hudsonicus in family Sciuridae.
iNaturalist: Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
iNaturalist taxon 46260 is the active species record with community observation range data.
Wikipedia: American red squirrel
Corroborating reference for midden behaviour and for the split from the Douglas squirrel.