Over the past century El Paso Zoo visitors have enjoyed seeing not only all kinds of animals from around the world, but both native and exotic species that thrive on Zoo grounds where ever they can find the habitat they need to survive. Birds like pigeons and Great-tailed Crackles are two of the most obvious species that people see, as are a large population of rock squirrels. Occasionally near the Franklin Canal and on some of the boulders smaller antelope ground squirrels are also seen, but when it comes to squirrels in trees up until recently they were almost absent. Every now and then a rock squirrel might be seen in a tree, but for the most part rock squirrels like other species of ground squirrels forage mainly on the ground.

A few years ago a species of squirrel that apparently had never been seen here at the Zoo was spotted climbing a tree. It was a eastern fox squirrel. This species of squirrel is known mainly to forests and along the rivers and streams in the eastern two-thirds of Texas and the eastern half of the United States. According to a 2013 report published in Western North American Naturalist, the first records of the eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) in west Texas were recorded in pecan orchards in the Lower El Paso Valley of the Rio Grande. Ever since there has been a growing concern that expansion of this population could threaten the pecan-growing industry along the Rio Grande in both Texas and New Mexico.

With a well established population of rock squirrels living at the Zoo it will be interesting to see how the two species interact with each other over the years. Antelope ground squirrels are much smaller and not as visible so it will be more difficult to see any possible interactions. Next time you come to the Zoo you should see both species with rock squirrels mainly on the ground and fox squirrels in the trees.

Photos

Top and three images and cover by Rick LoBello, El Paso Zoo
Bottom by Renee Grayson, Wikimedia Creative Commons