Squirrel is a lovely creature, but it may surprise you as they don’t have the same characteristics (flurry and bushy-tailed) as that of their parents. The baby squirrels are born pink in color, hairless, deaf, and blind. At the time of their birth, they weigh about half-ounce.
Squirrels, due to its distinguishable features, have different species. Depending on what kind of species they are, they give birth to their young ones annually in summers and winters. We will see the stages of baby squirrel’s development in the later section of this post.
Development stages of a baby squirrel
Baby squirrels are unique in themselves; they can hear quite a while before when they can see. In 3-4 weeks, they start developing their tail, which can extend up to 4 inches. During this period, they can only hear the things around them, but they can’t open their eyes to see the world surrounding them.
After four weeks pass, baby squirrels are not babies anymore. They start developing hair on their body, but before that, their skin begins to darken. During this time only, they start opening their eyes as well.
The adolescence period of a squirrel starts from the 6th week and lasts up to the 14th week. During this period, the young kitten (baby squirrel) fully develops the fur or hair on its body. Moreover, the essential senses like smell, sight, and sound ultimately develop in the kitten. Around 7th week, the baby squirrel grows its tail measuring 7-8 inches, and it starts developing hair on its detail as well. In the adolescent period, it can stand up and even hold its food in the front paws. After the completion of 8 weeks, the squirrel starts climbing the barks and trunks of the tree as their front, as well as back toenails, become sharp enough. The squirrel starts learning survival skills from its mother, which means it starts playing with its siblings and sleeps less no. of hours. Its body fully develops at the end of the 12th week, and it becomes three-quarters of its adult size with the ending 14th week.
The baby squirrels which are born in summers usually take six or more months to go out of their nest, whereas the squirrels born in winter don’t stay in the nest for more than four months.
In this post, we discussed the stages in the development of baby squirrel. It is unusual in itself to know and understand processes like this. We hope you got to know about the development phases in the life of a squirrel.