The distinctive features of reproduction in squirrels are the lack of allometric influences on the duration of reproductive investment; the strong allometric influences on offspring mass; and a trade-off between number and size of young, suggesting an important developmental component to reproduction. Lengths of gestation and lactation do not vary with body size but neonatal and weaning mass do...

The musculature of the shoulder, arm, and forearm was studied in 19 genera of squirrels, representing the Pteromyinae (flying squirrels) and all 7 tribes of the Sciurinae (tree and ground squirrels). The objective was to locate derived anatomical features of functional or phylogenetic significance and to determine how much morphological variation underlies the diverse locomotor behavior of squi...

Although the family Sciuridae is large and well known, phylogenetic analyses are scarce. We report on a comprehensive molecular phylogeny for the family. Two nuclear genes (c-myc and RAG1) comprising approximately 4500 bp of data (most in exons) are applied for the first time to rodent phylogenetics. Parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian analyses of the separate gene regions and combined data rev...

In February 2006, a diagnosis of sylvatic epidemic typhus in a counselor at a wilderness camp in Pennsylvania prompted a retrospective investigation. From January 2004 through January 2006, 3 more cases were identified. All had been counselors at the camp and had experienced febrile illness with myalgia, chills, and sweats; 2 had been hospitalized. All patients had slept in the same cabin and r...

One of Europe’s rarest small mammals — the flying squirrel — has been given a boost to save it from extinction, sparing the Finnish government from legal action by the European Commission. The Finnish government has changed its law to protect the squirrels and paid out one million euros in compensation to about 400 farmers and landowners who have to curb normal activities for the squirrels’ saf...

There are two species of New World flying squirrels included in the genus Glaucomys: G. sabrinus, the northern flying squirrel, and G. volans, the southern flying squirrel. During a study of local rodents around Hanover, New Hampshire, several flying squirrels were caught and their chromosomes were analyzed. The occurrence, in this region, of both species allowed a comparative study of their re...

T fever from Rickettsia prowazekii infection is a severe and occasionally fatal disease in humans. Frequently referred to as epidemic typhus or louse-borne typhus, this disease can cause large epidemics when conditions are favorable for person-to-person spread of body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus). For the last few decades, reported outbreaks have been confined mainly to the cold mountainous...

We report the presence of Indian Giant Flying Squirrel Petaurista philippensis Elliot, 1839 in Badrama Wildlife Sanctuary, a first record to Odisha. The species was identified through direct sighting and photo capture. also observed feeding behaviour flying squirrels on Tamarind Sal trees sanctuary.

-gporocarps of hypogeous mycorrhizal fungi (truffles) are the major food of northern flying squirrels (Gluucomys satinus). The two subspecies of northern flying squirrels that occur in the southern Appalachians, G. s. colmatus and G. s. fuscus, are endangered species which are primarily found in the ecotone between high-elevation spruce-fir and northern hardwood forests. Our objective was to de...

Northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) of South Dakota represent isolated populations. Because data on both species in the region are limited, and because the northern flying squirrel in South Dakota and the Black Hills National Forest has species of concern status, we trapped throughout BHNF to determ...