Squirrels of Toronto

Squirrels are common animals that you can see everywhere in almost all North American cities, that includes the city of Toronto where I live.

This picture is from a squirrel near my residence.

They are beautiful creatures and harmless and can live in peace with humans, but they are very nosy. They are a little shy, kind of timid I should say, but make friends easily with humans. People try to keep them away from the inside of the house, but they can easily find a way into attics or the balcony of apartments. If they get trapped inside the chimney or the attic, they make a lot of noise.

Many people feed them with nuts and bread. They carry and bury the nuts under the ground and sometimes forget where they hid them. It is very funny when they sit on their tail and chew pieces of nut. I have made friends with a couple of squirrels near my home. They are not vicious like racoons, another animal which lives with us in Toronto.

They usually live inside the trees, especially the ones with hard wood, and prefer the crown part of the tree, high above the ground, to protect their young from racoons, but they are still vulnerable to hawks and falcons which can be found in our city too.

It is a funny scene when one squirrel wants to cross the street and go to the other side, maybe to visit a friend on the other side. If the street is quiet, that would be an easy task, but when there is some traffic, it would take forever. They tip toe a few steps into the street and when they see a car, run back to their own tree. This goes on and on for minutes until they find a gap in the traffic and get through. Sometimes they get involved in an accident and lose their life, not an uncommon scene in the streets of Toronto.

What animals live with you in your city?

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Comment by hafida on February 18, 2013 at 14:27: very cute animal,

at my home we have cats and birds

Comment by Faraz on February 18, 2013 at 13:47: Turtles are nice, bright - rubies. The squirrels that live with us are not flying squirrels, if they were, they would become a serious concern to everybody. Flying (or gliding) squirrels live in the wild, hopefully.

Cats are found here too, but as a pet. People keep them in their homes. Stray cats are not usually seen in the streets.

Comment by bright - rubies on February 18, 2013 at 13:32: I like your blog where I love anything about pets and peaceful animals. I love squirrels although I have not seen one of them before, just in cartoon that were shown when I was a kid. I know that they are flying by using their pushy tails from tree to another.

Here in my city, there are turtles, cats, birds, and rabbits.

Comment by Faraz on February 18, 2013 at 12:06: Pandas are so cute, Mickey.

Comment by ⊱ Mickey ⊰ on February 18, 2013 at 8:15: Haha, what a lovely and funny animal! Thanks for sharing~
Here we have Pandas!!!

Comment by Faraz on February 17, 2013 at 22:32: Thanks Lucy for your comment. We have pigeons too. Few years ago, there were a few around our home and I fed them. In less than a month there were 100s around us and I stopped feeding them. Still some of them come around every now and then and check on us :)

Comment by Lucy on February 17, 2013 at 22:21: Squirrels are beautiful and fun, I like to have them around the house.
We have crows and pigeons in my house, because we have fig tree in summer and in winter medlar.
These birds love to eat ripe fruit. So, my mom put some plastic bags covering the fruit on the trees. Those that are close to the ground, of course, so we can have some fruit for us. lol
Never we feed them to see if they fly away, because they are many, but I think every time they are becoming more and more. :)

Comment by Faraz on February 17, 2013 at 21:32: Interesting to know that squirrels are common in Malaysian cities too, noaslpls. Rabbits are nice Heavens, I like them too. Thanks for the comments.

Mod Comment by Heaven on February 17, 2013 at 21:10: They are very cute.

We have rabbits. They live inside the bushes. They come out mostly in summer when weather is getting warm. We usually see them when we have our lunch break at work. They come and sit close to us, and sometimes it's funny to see them yawning :)

Comment by noaslpls on February 17, 2013 at 16:46: I love them. They are mischievous animals. They are a few of them near my house, and most of the time when I came back from the office, they would scattered from the front yard of my house, though I never put any food. So I wonder whether they entered my house :D.