We have all encountered one or two squirrels in our lifetime and some of us have encountered a lot of them. These small, cute, and puffy-tailed rodents are found everywhere in the world. We love to watch them and sometimes try to get rid of them. But how many squirrels are in the world? Ever wondered?
Squirrels are quick and try to avoid people as much as possible except for the pet ones. So, it is not easy to take a guess at their population. You will be amazed to learn about the studies that have been done on this topic. It is very safe to say there are a lot more squirrels in the world than there are humans.
Squirrels are not like domestic animals like cows and goats. They like to live free and be left alone. So, it is impossible to count their number of individuals correctly. But there have been some studies in some countries like the UK and we can only assume based on those, the size of their entire population.
How Many Squirrels are Available in the World Right Now?
The population of squirrels has been fluctuating throughout history. Sometimes the population decreases dramatically up to 90% in some areas and sometimes the population boasts in some places. There haven’t been lots of studies on this topic, at least not in most countries except a few.
The most convincing and updated data on the squirrel population that can be found is in the UK. There have been some studies on this topic since the 90s. The latest study is from the year 2012. So, sadly enough, there is no clear data on how many squirrels are left in the world 2022. We can only guess.
The studies show that at this point the squirrel population in the UK is increasing at a good rate. Although in the 2000s the population had decreased drastically for some reason. And currently, the grey squirrel to red squirrel population ratio is around 66:1 in the UK.
According to the latest studies, the population of red squirrels in the UK is around 140,00 – 200,000. And the grey squirrels are estimated to be around 2 million in number. And there are around 289 species of squirrels all over the world. But it doesn’t mean every species has the same number of individuals.
The estimated number of grey squirrels in the US is around 2 billion. Even though other species don’t have that many individuals, some species have a large number of populations. So, even though the actual number is unknown, it’s not impossible for the number to be over 100 billion. Because…
Limited Data
We have data only on the population of squirrels in the Uk and some data about the US. And these data show only two species of red and grey have a population of around 3 billion only in these two countries. And the whole world other than these two countries also has enough squirrels.
Other Habitats
There is an entire amazon rainforest that is the biggest forest in the world that has squirrels. And we don’t have any of the population there. And there is the biggest country in the world, Russia, and the second biggest, China with large forests and good habitats for squirrels. We have no data there either.
And other parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa have squirrels living there. No complete studies have been done on their population in these areas. Squirrels don’t live in the same amount everywhere in the world but they exist everywhere. These facts compel us to believe their population to be that big.
How Many Squirrel Species are there in the World?
There are like 289 species of squirrels all over the world, at least to our knowledge. These species are divided into groups according to their habitats. Such as tree squirrels, flying squirrels, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, marmots, and chipmunks. Some large and known species are…
- Eastern grey squirrel
- Western grey squirrel
- American red squirrel
- Eastern fox squirrel
- Northern flying squirrel
- Southern flying squirrel
- Abert’s squirrel
- Amazon dwarf squirrel
- Douglas squirrel
- Japanese squirrel
How Many Red Squirrels are in the World?
The exact number is very obviously unknown. This species has decreased in number for quite some time. But the number has been increasing since the last decade. According to a study conducted in 2012, the number of red squirrels in the UK alone is around 140,000. The population all over the world is surely much larger than this.
How Many Squirrels Die a Day?
It’s hard to answer this question accurately because we don’t know the exact number of squirrels that are alive. But they have a lifespan of around six years. And the study shows that around 41 million squirrels are killed only by motor vehicles each year in the US. And there are several other reasons for their death. So, we will guess based on these that several million squirrels must be dying per day.
How Many Squirrels are Killed?
Squirrels mostly die from motor vehicle accidents and maybe after that in the traps set for them. Not every country has data on squirrel death caused by humans. What we could find is every year 41 million squirrels are killed by drivers in the US alone. We can only try to guess about the number all over the world.
How Long do Squirrels Live?
It depends on their living situations and mostly on their species. On average the lifespan of the squirrels is 6-12 years. The longest life span has been observed for the eastern fox squirrels which are 18 years in captivity. Red squirrels live up to 5 years. And the eastern grey squirrels live for as much as 12 years.
Are Squirrels Going Extinct?
Only time will tell. But as for now according to the data the squirrels are not listed as endangered species. The red squirrels in the UK were thought to be endangered but their population is growing. And the US fish and wildlife service removed squirrels from their endangered list at the end of 2015. So, we can safely say squirrels are going to be in this world for a while.
Are there Squirrels in Every Country?
Not every country has squirrels although most of them have. There are no squirrels in Australia and Antarctica. Except for them, every continent has them. So, most of the countries in the world have squirrels living there.
Why are Grey Squirrels Bad?
They are bad because they get too personal with humans! They can invade human residences and damage the electrical wires and live there. Also, grey squirrels do damage forests and don’t let them grow and spread. These squirrels also destroy crops and gardens of people making them a nightmare in some cases.
Do Red and Grey Squirrels Mate?
No, they don’t. Because they are two completely different species. It’s not like the species have changed color in different places which happens all the time. But two different species cannot interbreed. This is against the law of nature.
Conclusion
“How many squirrels are in the world?” is definitely an interesting question to find an answer to. But all the information we could gather from our research suggests that the answer is rather vague. Squirrels are not the type of creature you can trace easily and count their number.
From the limited data, we could find on this subject, we can safely conclude that the population of squirrels is in the billions. And they are most likely several times more in number than us. Although their population decreased for some time, it is now increasing quite rapidly. And this is good news.
