Page 18 - The World of Animals

Like most other animals, squirrels do have methods of

communication with one another. Red squirrels, for example, upon

seeing an enemy, shake their tails and begin to make excited noises.
Squirrels, who can run on high tree branches also use their tails

for balance. They change their direction by rotating their tails. The

tails of squirrels serve the same function as the rudder of a vessel.

The whiskers of a squirrel also play a major role in their keeping
their balance. When squirrels' whiskers are cut, they cannot

maintain their balance. This aside, they also use their whiskers to

sense the objects around them at nights.
Children! Do you know that some squirrel species can also fly? All

the "flying squirrel" species in Australia, whose heights vary from 45
16
to 90 centimetres (18 to 35 inches), live on trees. We cannot say
that they really fly. They make long jumps from one tree to another.

These creatures, who move among trees like gliders, have no wings

but "flying membranes". The "sugar glider", a kind of flying squirrel

with a flying membrane that extends from the fore to hind limbs,
has a narrow body and long tassel-like hairs. In some species, the

flying membrane is made up of furry skin. This membrane extends

to the wrist of the forelimb. The gliding squirrel jumps from the
trunk of a tree and can traverse about 30 metres (100 feet) at a time

by means of a glide-like effect produced by its stretched membrane.

In some cases, they can even make six successive glides, covering a
total distance of 530 metres (1,740 feet).