Archive for March, 2012

Red squirrel conservation in the north of England

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) is a red squirrel conservation partnership in the north of England, principally in Cumbria, Northumberland, Merseyside, Lancashire, north-west Durham and the Yorkshire Dales. Visit their web site if you want to join a red squirrel group, send in a sighting or find out where to see red squirrels in these regions.

Les écureuils en France – new web site

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

A new website has been launched about squirrels in France – Les écureuils en France. It not only covers information about the native red squirrel but also alien invaders such as the red-bellied squirrel and the Siberian chipmunk.  The site also makes the point that the alien North American grey squirrel introduced into Italy is not that […]

Evolutionary history of tree squirrels

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

A recent paper published by Pečnerová & Martínková in Zoologica Scripta (see Publications page) using phylogenetic reconstruction shows that tree squirrels evolved in the Northern Hemisphere with the first group to diverge from a common ancestor being Tamiasciurus followed by Sciurus in the Palaearctic and Reithrosciurus in Indo-Malayasia. Thereafter overland colonisation resulted in the present-day […]