Écureuil de Douglas
Tamiasciurus douglasii
Mammifère
Petit écureuil arboricole bruyant de la côte pacifique qui coupe les cônes verts des conifères et les entasse dans des réserves humides au pied des arbres, où les cônes restent fermés et la graine se conserve. Les tas d'écailles rongées comptent parmi les signes les plus visibles de sa présence dans une forêt de conifères.
Plantes du catalogue
Plantes à graines · 5
Cuts green cones and stockpiles them in damp ground middens, where the closed cones keep the seed; the stripped-scale piles are an obvious field sign.
The resident tree squirrel of the coastal grand fir forest, and its behaviour is shaped by the way fir cones fall apart. It cuts the cones GREEN and drops them, then stockpiles them in damp middens where they stay closed and the seed keeps; waiting for ripeness would mean waiting until the cone had already shed itself. The heaps of stripped scales at the base of a big fir are its work.
Douglas squirrels cut green cones and pile them in middens, and lodgepole is a staple across its Pacific and interior range. Those middens are a substantial seed store and a food source for other species in turn.
The same role on the Pacific side of the range, in the Cascades and coastal mountains where the Douglas squirrel replaces the red squirrel. The silvical and encyclopedic accounts of subalpine fir name pine squirrels among the principal seed consumers; which of the two species is doing it is simply a matter of which side of the divide the stand is on.
Cuts green cones and stockpiles them in damp ground middens, where the closed cones keep the seed; the stripped-scale piles are an obvious field sign.
Répartition
Forêts de conifères côtières et montagnardes du Pacifique, du sud-ouest de la Colombie-Britannique jusqu'à la Sierra Nevada californienne en passant par Washington et l'Oregon.
Sources et citations
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Utilisez cette citation pour la fiche faune Plotwright. Utilisez les fiches de sources ci-dessous pour explorer les références ayant alimenté sa taxonomie, sa répartition, sa conservation, ses plantes hôtes, son alimentation et son habitat.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Écureuil de Douglas (Tamiasciurus douglasii). Retrieved 2026, September 9, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/douglas-squirrel
Sources utilisées pour cette fiche
Cette fiche est élaborée à partir des sources ci-dessous.
Animal Diversity Web: Tamiasciurus douglasii
Species account for conifer-cone harvesting, midden caching, habitat, and Pacific-coast distribution.
GBIF: Tamiasciurus douglasii
GBIF backbone key 2437281 is an exact accepted match for Tamiasciurus douglasii in family Sciuridae.
iNaturalist: Tamiasciurus douglasii
iNaturalist taxon 46259 is the active species record with community observation range data.
Wikipedia: Douglas squirrel
Corroborating reference for midden behaviour and the conifer species it depends on.