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- ›Squirrels, Dormice, and Mountain Beavers
Squirrels
Sciuridae
Squirrels (UK: or US: SKWIRR-əl(z) or SKWUR-əl(z)) are members of the family Sciuridae ( sih-YOO-rih-day, -dee), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia. The earliest known fossilized squirrels date from the Eocene epoch, and among other living rodent families, the squirrels are most closely related to the mountain beaver and dormice.
5 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 323 known species
Typical and Flying Squirrels
subfamilySciurinae
Ground and African Tree Squirrels
subfamilyXerinae
Beautiful and Palm Squirrels
subfamilyCallosciurinae
Asian Giant Squirrels
subfamilyRatufinae
Neotropical Pygmy Squirrels
subfamilySciurillinae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Sciuridae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 45933.