Squirrels are mammals in the order Rodentia, the same as not only mice and rats, but also porcupines, beavers, capybara, and dormice.  All in all, there are over 2000 species of rodents.

The defining feature that unifies the order Rodentia is that their front teeth grow continually and have to be worn down by near-continuous gnawing. If they didn’t gnaw, their front teeth would grow until digging into some other part of the face or mouth and disable or killing the animal.

Typical Rodent Teeth (Image from Wikipedia)

Squirrels live on every continent except Australia and come in 200 species.  Our most common squirrel around Northern Virginia is the Eastern Gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). However, there is another species that lives here: the Black Squirrel.

Black Squirrel in DC (image from the DCist)

The first time I saw a black squirrel, I did a double-take. I hadn’t known there was such a thing. I looked it up first chance I got. Apparently they were brought to the DC area from Canada in the early 1900s and the population survived.

I like squirrels as much as any other animal. Until they raid my birdfeeders. Most of my feeders are squirrel-proof, but I still end up feeding them since birds aren’t the neatest eaters and some feed ends up on the ground.

When I can count seven or more squirrels in my yard at once, even I might think all squirrels should die. I joke around around buying a bee-bee gun and having squirrel stew for dinner, but that won’t ever happen.

But if I saw one of these purple squirrels, I’d wouldn’t be running for my gun. I’d be running for my camera.

Purple Squirrel (Image from MNN)