Reading and vocabulary. Eastern Gray Squirrel

There are more than 200 species of squirrels living all around the world, including kinds of tree, ground, and flying squirrels. You may have seen the eastern gray squirrel in parks, your backyard, or in a forest in the eastern half of the United States.

Eastern gray squirrels forage for nuts, seeds, buds, and flowers of trees. Like other tree squirrels, the eastern gray squirrel plays an important role in what’s known as seed dispersal. As winter approaches, squirrels carry their food and bury it in several locations. They hide more food than they will recover or eat. The buried seeds and nuts sprout and begin to grow in these locations the following spring.

Eastern gray squirrels have an excellent sense of       , which they use to help locate      that they’ve hidden away. They can also pick up             about their fellow squirrels by smelling them.

They             with each other by making        and body           , such as tail flicking. When predators such as red foxes and red-tailed hawks are nearby, eastern gray squirrels will sound         calls to alert other squirrels.

Female eastern gray squirrels may start having        [babys, babies] at as young as five and    [a, an] half months old. Females can      [have, has] litters twice a year, each usually consisting of two to four babies. They gather        [leafs, leaves] and twigs and build nests high in the trees to house their young offspring, or use tree          [cavityes, cavities] as dens.

Newborn eastern gray squirrels don’t have fur when they are born and     [are, is] not able        [seing, to see]. They often weigh as little as half    [a, an] ounce (14 grams). They leave the nest by around ten to twelve weeks old and they become fully grown by around nine months.