What Do Squirrels Eat?

Squirrels’ diets vary based on their species and habitat. The most commonly recognized squirrel, the bushy-tailed tree squirrel, has a diet that primarily consists of nuts and fruits. Squirrels are equipped with strong, chisel-like incisors and powerful jaws, which are essential for gnawing open hard nuts. Tree squirrels also consume seeds, fungi, and insects. In addition, they have been known to eat nectar, leaves, buds, flowers, the cambium layer of tree bark, and occasionally bird eggs, nestlings, and carrion (decomposing animal corpses). Some species, such as red squirrels, may even hunt and eat small animals, including other squirrels. Such behavior is far less common among tropical tree squirrels.

Most ground squirrels also have a varied diet that includes both plant and animal matter. Like tree squirrels, they are omnivorous, consuming green plant parts, fruits, and a wide range of insects such as caterpillars, grasshoppers, and beetles. Some ground squirrels even eat small vertebrates, including toads, frogs, and the eggs and chicks of birds. Their diet can also include carrion. However, the Uinta ground squirrel of the Rocky Mountains in the western United States is primarily vegetarian, eating mostly green plant parts and seeds.

Tropical ground squirrels, which inhabit the forests of Southeast Asia, have a diet that includes a higher percentage of arthropods compared to their nontropical counterparts. They consume a variety of insects, earthworms, and fruits. Some species, such as the shrew-faced ground squirrel of the Sunda Islands, are highly specialized to eat earthworms and insects, using their elongated snouts and long tongues to capture prey. The two species of Sulawesi ground squirrel have elongated snouts and use their long, strong claws to dig for beetle larvae in rotting wood; they also eat acorns.