Winter Feeding of Fox and Gray Squirrel Populations
- 1 January 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by JSTOR in The Journal of Wildlife Management
- Vol. 44 (1) , 41-55
- https://doi.org/10.2307/3808349
Abstract
Populations of fox (S. niger) and gray squirrels (S. carolinensis) were provided with shelled corn for 3 winters in a mature mixed hardwood forest and for 2 winters in an even-aged 40-50 yr old oak-hickory forest in Illinois [USA]. Mast crops were above average during the study. Corn provided no obvious benefits to squirrels in the mature mixed hardwood forest with respect to reproduction, population density, survival, physical parameters or reduction in disease. In the even-aged forest, the numbers and recaptures of squirrels were higher where corn was provided. Corn apparently is not a nutritionally adequate supplemental food for squirrels. During 1 winter, squirrels made little use of unharvested corn and soybeans left in fields adjacent to woodlands, but use of corn increased somewhat in March.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Food Habits of Squirrels in Southeast OhioThe Journal of Wildlife Management, 1968