A Nutritional Comparison of Selected Fox Squirrel Foods

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Abstract
Daily food consumption, coefficients of energy digestion and metabolism, metabolized energy and balances of 6 selected elements were compared among diets of 4 spp. of oak (Quercus [Q. velutina, Q. macrocarpa, Q. rubra and Q. alba]), 2 spp. of hickory (Carya [C. ovata and C. tomentosa]), black walnuts (Juglans nigra), corn and soybeans fed to adult female fox squirrels (S. n. rufiventer) under controlled Illinois [USA] winter conditions. Mockernut hickory (C. tomentosa) and shagbark hickory (C. ovata) had significantly higher coefficients of energy metabolism than all the other diets. Corn and soybeans had the lowest. With the exception of red oak (O. rubra), the mast diets had similar and much higher levels of metabolized energy than the grain diets. Squirrels fed a white oak (Q. alba) diet had the highest average levels of food intake, metabolized energy and weight gain. Elemental balances of the mast and soybean diets were similar. Average balances for K Mg, P and N were generally positive, while balances for Na and Ca were negative. Corn was nutritionally the poorest fox squirrel food among the diets examined, having low average values for the coefficient of energy metabolism and the amount of energy metabolized, the largest average weight loss, and negative balances for all 6 elements. Because of its limitations in energy and mineral nutrition, corn is a questionable supplemental winter food for squirrels in times of mast failure. Squirrel preference for certain hickory species may relate to their high energy content and high efficiency of metabolism.