October is Squirrel Awareness Month, an opportunity to shed light on all the mammal offers the local ecosystem.

University of Minnesota student Charlotte Devitz, who is pursuing a doctorate in ecology, evolution and behavior, is studying how aspects of the urban environment affect squirrels. She found the city offers both benefits and consequences for the furry rodent.

Devitz said some benefits of the urban environment for squirrels are a surplus of food and a lack of natural predators. However, Devitz added that living in a city causes a squirrel to have an increase in microplastic intake and greater exposure to the novel predator that is the automobile.

“There’s a much greater risk of being hit by cars,” Devitz said. “And of course, domestic dogs and cats can present a threat as well.”

Devitz said urban squirrels can thrive in their environment, if not better than rural squirrels can in theirs.

“We see higher population densities in the cities because there’s so many resources available,” Devitz said. “That sort of suggests some level of success, that there’s just more of these individuals that they’re having more offspring and stuff.”

Fourth-year student Sandra Liu worked with Devitz on her research and said they analyzed squirrels’ behaviors by catching and collecting samples.

Before Liu did this research, she only thought of squirrels as part of the “urban wildlife puzzle.” Now, she said she understands how important they are to the environment.

“You see them eating Subway sandwiches or whatnot, but they have these behaviors that make them super well adapted for change that has happened,” Liu said. “Their environment has been altered so much with urbanization and it’s really cool that they’re able to adapt to that.”

The common urban squirrels, such as the red, gray and fox squirrels, are not the only squirrels that can be seen around campus. Ecologist professor Anna Mangan from the University’s Duluth campus said flying squirrels are also quite common and can be identified by their smaller stature and how they glide from tree to tree during the night.

Mangan is focusing on flying squirrels for a project in mammal ecology studying the population and distribution of flying squirrels.

Squirrels are important to the ecosystem because they transport tree seeds around and serve as a main source of food for predators like hawks, coyotes and foxes, Devitz said.

“I think most people are pretty familiar with their presence in terms of living in, they’re in people’s backyards, they’re in all of the parks and stuff,” Devitz said. “But I think just recognizing that they are more than just backyard garden pests, that they do have these kind of important roles to play.”

Brett Robertson, a co-owner of Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control’s Minnesota Branch, a human-wildlife company focused on getting squirrels out of houses, said he wants to get squirrels out safely without trapping them, as up to 70% of them die within 30 days after getting trapped.

Robertson said a one-way door is attached to the house, allowing squirrels to go out but not back in. If non-mobile baby squirrels are found, they are hand-removed and placed in a heated box outside until the mom comes back.

“Everything we do is keeping (them) safe so they stay out of people’s houses,” Robertson said.

Devitz said it is important to understand squirrels’ behaviors are natural and are not intentionally meant to be annoying.

“The reality is that they were here before us,” Devitz said. “We’ve urbanized huge portions of the country. The squirrels are just here along with all of the other wildlife. I think learning to coexist is going to be of growing importance as cities continue to expand because, for squirrels in particular, they’re not going anywhere.”