Squirrels
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98 free Squirrels trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
15 free squirrels trivia questions with answers. Think you know everything about squirrels? Test your knowledge with our entertaining 98-question trivia quiz covering fascinating facts about these bushy-tailed creatures. From their incredible jumping abilities to their vital role in forest ecosystems, discover how much you really know about squirrels!
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What family of rodents do all squirrels belong to?
Sciuridae
Sciuridae is the one family that unites tree, ground and flying squirrels, all small to medium-sized rodents.
Q 02Besides balance, a parachute and signalling, a squirrel's bushy tail serves which purpose?
Cooling off by pumping blood through it
Cooling off by pumping blood through it is one job; the tail also shields against rain and cold, and its fine hairs are prized for tying fishing flies.
Q 03Squirrels eat nuts, seeds and fungi but also insects and bird eggs; what type of diet is that?
Omnivore
Omnivore: most species top up a plant-based diet of nuts, seeds, fruit and fungi with insects, bird eggs or small vertebrates.
Q 04Which of these species, at 15 to 18 grams, shares the title of the world's smallest sciurid?
African pygmy
The African pygmy squirrel (Myosciurus pumilio) weighs about 15 to 18 grams, less than a house mouse, and lives in Central African forests; Asia's least pygmy squirrel is about as small.
Q 05What is the name for a squirrel's nest made from twigs and leaves, typically found in tree branches?
Drey
A drey is almost always at least 20 feet (6 m) up, and flying squirrels build much higher; new ones become obvious each autumn when the leaves fall.
Q 06The word 'squirrel' traces back to the Ancient Greek skiouros, which literally combines 'tail' with what?
Shade
The name pictures the animal sitting in the shadow of its own tail; the Old English word, ācweorna, survived into Middle English as aquerne before dying out.
Q 07Which bird hunts the eastern gray squirrel?
Owl
Owls and hawks are the main threats from above; squirrels hide in canopy and midstory trees and warn each other with tail flicks and 'kuk' calls.
Q 08What is special about a squirrel's gnawing incisors, which lets it chew through hard nuts year after year?
They keep growing for life
They keep growing for life, and constant gnawing wears them to length; behind them sits a wide gap, the diastema, then the grinding cheek teeth.
Q 09Which kind of squirrel is the more social, often living in well-developed colonies?
Ground-dwelling species
Prairie dogs and marmots are ground squirrels; when a predator appears, colony members give high-pitched alarm calls that send neighbours diving for their burrows.
Q 10The Eastern Gray Squirrel is a common sight in which continent?
North America
The Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is native to the eastern and Midwestern regions of North America and is one of the most widely recognized squirrel species there.
Q 11What is the furred wrist-to-ankle membrane a flying squirrel glides on called?
Patagium
The patagium is the furred membrane stretching from wrist to ankle that a flying squirrel glides on; the flattened tail works as an extra airfoil and air brake before landing.
Q 12What is an eastern gray squirrel's life expectancy at birth, before the lucky ones reach adulthood?
1 to 2 years
1 to 2 years at birth; an adult that beats the odds typically lives to about six, exceptional individuals reach 12, and captives can hit 20.
Q 13What is it called when squirrels bury single nuts in many separate spots for later, rather than in one store?
Scatter hoarding
Q 21Newborn squirrels are described as altricial; what does that mean about how they are born?
Naked, toothless and blind
Naked, toothless and blind at birth, the young take six to ten weeks to wean, and in most species the mother raises them alone.
Q 22In 2005, a pack of black squirrels in Lazo, Russia, reportedly killed and ate what?
A large stray dog
A large stray dog: in late 2005 villagers in Lazo, in Russia's Primorye region, reported a pack of black squirrels killing and eating a stray dog in the village park; attacks on humans are exceedingly rare.
Q 23What is the term for animals like squirrels and pigeons that thrive by living alongside humans?
Synanthropes
Scatter hoarding: an eastern gray squirrel makes several thousand caches a season and relies on spatial memory, plus smell, to find them again.
Q 14How many litters can a female eastern gray squirrel raise in a year?
Two
Two: eastern gray squirrels breed in late winter and again in early summer, so a healthy female can raise two litters a year, each usually of two to four kits.
Q 15Along with 'dray', which of these is a collective term for a group of squirrels?
Scurry
A scurry of squirrels; 'dray' is the other accepted term, and it doubles as the word for a tree squirrel's leafy nest.
Q 16Squirrels are native to every inhabited continent but one, where humans introduced them; which is it?
Australia
Australia's introduced eastern gray squirrels were wiped out again by 1973.
Q 17Which two rodent groups are squirrels most closely related to?
The mountain beaver and dormice
Squirrels' closest living relatives are the mountain beaver and dormice; the three groups form the rodent suborder Sciuromorpha, and the earliest squirrel fossils date to the Eocene.
Q 18Tree squirrels can climb down a trunk headfirst by rotating which joints 180 degrees?
Their ankles
Their ankles turn a full 180 degrees, letting the hind feet point backward and grip the bark from the opposite direction.
Q 19The Bhutan giant flying squirrel, the longest squirrel, can reach roughly what total length?
1.27 metres
The Bhutan giant flying squirrel, Petaurista nobilis of the Himalayas, reaches about 1.27 metres from nose to tail tip, the greatest total length of any squirrel.
Q 20The eastern gray squirrel is the official state mammal of which US state?
North Carolina
North Carolina named the eastern gray squirrel its state mammal in 1969; the species is abundant across the state's hardwood forests and city parks.
Synanthropes are wild species such as squirrels, pigeons and house sparrows that benefit from living near humans; the process of adapting to city life is called synurbanization.
Q 24Which US city first released squirrels into a city park, in 1847?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia released squirrels into Franklin Square in 1847, the first recorded attempt to stock a city park with them; Boston and New Haven followed in the 1850s and New York's Central Park in 1877.
Q 25Roughly how many living squirrel species are there?
About 285
About 285 living squirrel species are recognised, split across five subfamilies and some 58 genera.
Q 26The Callosciurinae, a subfamily of some 60 squirrel species, are mostly found in which region?
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia: the Callosciurinae, which include the Callosciurus 'beautiful squirrels' and the striped palm squirrels, are an Asian radiation centred there; the Sciurinae, by contrast, span tree and flying squirrels across several continents.
Q 27The Ratufinae subfamily consists of four cat-sized species known as what?
Oriental giant squirrels
Oriental giant squirrels, genus Ratufa, make up the Ratufinae; the four species live in south and southeast Asia and are among the most ancient squirrel lineages.
Q 28Which subfamily contains the chipmunks, marmots and prairie dogs?
Xerinae
Xerinae: this subfamily holds the ground-living tribe Marmotini, which includes marmots, chipmunks, prairie dogs and most ground squirrels, as well as the African ground squirrels of tribe Xerini.
Q 29Gray squirrels, which have since displaced the native red, were first brought to Britain in the 1870s for what reason?
As fashionable additions to estates
As fashionable additions to estates; on mainland Britain they have since almost entirely displaced the native red squirrel.
Q 30Since 2016 the eastern gray squirrel has been officially designated what in Europe?
An Invasive Alien Species of Union concern
An Invasive Alien Species of Union concern: the EU placed the eastern gray squirrel on its first such list in 2016, banning its sale, breeding and release; the species had earlier spread to Ireland (1911) and Italy (1948).