Do squirrels hibernate?

[Hawk]

I saw in a standard grade bioloigy textbook that squirrels hibernate in late autumn. I am sure this is incorrect. Am i right in saying that squirrels do not hibernate.

[wildlifesnapper]

Hi

as far as i'm aware they don't hibernate but will sit out any really cold weather in their dreys.

neil

[thunder]

Originally Posted by wildlifesnapper

Hi

as far as i'm aware they don't hibernate but will sit out any really cold weather in their dreys.

neil

Yes, I'll go along with neil. Squirrels certainly don't go to sleep ar the beginning of winter and wake up in spring. As neil says, they may have a bit of a lie in on very cold winter days, but if they are hungry they'll come out a forage!

henrya

[nightshade]

Those squirrel Dreys are very thick walled and keep them very snug
the squirrel is famed for hiding(squirreling away)nuts so when the weather
allows they can raid these caches if necessary settling down to a torpor
like sleep if the weather worstens again

[rlchew]

Originally Posted by thunder

.... they may have a bit of a lie in on very cold winter days, but if they are hungry they'll come out a forage!

Sounds a bit like me ....

I am also increasingly seeing squirrels during the winter months presumably due to the fact that we do not really have any very cold weather now.

Richard