Gray Squirrel

Sciurus caroliniensis

The Gray Squirrel Project studies the population densities and intraspecies competition of the gray squirrel. Squirrels are trapped, tagged, weighed, aged, a hindfoot measurement is taken, and the squirrel's gender is taken. Sometimes birds are caught in the traps and those are banded as well. Two trapping grids are set up at Sandhill State Wildlife area to observe differences in a hunted zone and a nonhunted zone. The project starts mid-January and runs up to spring break. It's a lot of fun plus you get to work on skills such as telemetry, tagging, bird banding, and handling wild animals!