The Eurasian Red Squirrel

About this book

This is an English translation of the German monograph. Note that the content has been completely updated from the original.

Eurasian red squirrels are among the most popular animals. They live in forests, share parks and gardens with us, and fascinate by their remarkable behaviour, e. g. sitting in look-out-position, creating food caches in autumn, leaping several metres from tree to tree, or constructing brushwood nests.

In this monograph, the authors provide interesting insights into the largely hidden life of Sciurus vulgaris as well as into the complex ecological relationships that determine its existence and on which man has massive influence by landscaping, forestry, or the introduction of non-resident squirrel species. In view of the impending replacement of the red squirrel by the gray squirrel Sciurus carolinensis in Europe, the chapter on endangerment and conservation is of forward-looking significance.

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Biography

Dr. Stefan Bosch, born in 1962, lives in southern Germany and works as an anesthetist and emergency physician. He deals with birds and mammals "on behalf of his own curiosity" since his youth. He lectures and manages field trips for the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) and is author of numerous scientific and popular scientific articles in professional journals, books and brochures. For over 20 years, he belongs to the editorial staff of the magazine Naturschutz Heute. Squirrels fascinated Bosch from an early age when he met tame specimens in the Black Forest and the Alps. Since then, he observes and photographs them regularly.

Peter W. W. Lurz, Ph. D., lives in Britain and is an internationally renowned expert for squirrels. For over 20 years he is working on squirrels, their ecology, behaviour, and conservation in the UK, Italy and the U.S. His particular passion is the European red squirrel, which runs like a thread throughout his research career. Peter Lurz is one of the few scientists in Europe who deal extensively with the study of the red squirrel. In Great Britain he was and is instrumental in the basic and nature conservation research and develops and supports strategies for the conservation of the remaining squirrels in the British Isles. Current research focuses on conservation, habitat use and influence and impact of invasive species on the indigenous fauna.