[dmix]

The migration part is interesting:

> Squirrels in North America used to migrate in massive numbers, following cycles of bountiful acorn harvests. When settlers first arrived in this country, they reported squirrels being so thick in the trees above during a migration that they nearly blocked out the sun. The best part — squirrels could do most of the journey from the East coast to Indiana without touching the ground.

> But as settlers started to clear the old growth oak forests, the great squirrel migrations became fragmented. Where squirrels had to cross fields, they were killed by coyotes, foxes, and other predators, including people who reported killing hundreds of squirrels (and getting three pennies a pelt). The last great squirrel migration was in 1968 in Wisconsin, when hundreds of thousands of squirrels were seen migrating (and dying on the highway and in lakes). One fisherman reported a wave of squirrels swimming toward his boat and nearly sinking it as they ran over him. Since then, this mass migration behavior has gone extinct.*

[adastra22]

That makes me sad :(

I wonder if the right wildlife corridors were setup would the migration patterns resume? Or is this part of squirrel culture and once eradicated is gone?

[samatman]

The right wildlife corridors would need to include the American Chestnut, which was their primary food.

[m463]

I get sad walking through the redwoods and seeing clumps of maybe 7 trees in a circle.

Invariably in the center of the circle is a tree stump of a GIANT old-growth redwood that existed before the forest was clear-cut.