![]() While that natural regrowth has been an ongoing process for decades, there is considerable and growing interest by the United States Forest Service, the state of West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Department of Forestry and State Park commission, The Nature Conservancy, and other conservation groups, and private entities to foster large spruce restoration projects that restore the historic red spruce ecosystem of the Allegheny Highlands. The single most important factor in the squirrels’ population resurgence has been the regeneration of its traditional forested habitat. ![]() ![]() Primary predators of the West Virginia flying squirrels include owls, weasels, hawks, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, minks, snakes, dogs, and cats. There seems to be an interdependence between the presence of West Virginia northern flying squirrels and the health of red spruce forests. As they feed on fungi, West Virginia northern flying squirrels disperse fungal spores and nitrogen-fixing bacteria that form a symbiotic mycorrhizal network essential to the growth of red spruce and other forest trees. Also, unlike other squirrels, West Virginia northern flying squirrels usually forage on lichen and fungi growing above and below ground instead of eating various nuts. During the night, the squirrels are very active moving throughout the forest canopy and on the ground. Their large, dark eyes enable these squirrels to see in low light situations. Unlike other varieties of squirrels, West Virginia northern flying squirrels remain active throughout the winter. The squirrels communicate with high-pitched chirps. ![]() These squirrels appear to live in very small groups and commonly share nests. The expected life span is thought to be approximately four years. Males have minimal involvement in the raising of the young. Although biologists do not know for sure, females are thought to have one litter of one to six young each year the gestation period is approximately 37 to 42 days and females nurse their offspring for about two months. These squirrels glide in the air on the parachute created when they stretch all four legs and pull the loose folds of skin, called patagia, between their fore and hindlegs taut. Individuals are about a foot long, half of which is the broad, flat tail, and weigh less than five ounces. Small nocturnal animals, West Virginia northern flying squirrels are covered with soft, dense, silky fur that is brownish above and grayish underneath. Today federal and state biologists have captured more than 1,100 squirrels at over 100 sites, and the biologists believe that this subspecies no longer faces the impending threat of extinction. At that time only a mere 10 squirrels were captured in four separate areas of its range. In 1985, the West Virginia northern flying squirrel was protected as an endangered subspecies under the Endangered Species Act because it was determined to be in critical danger of becoming extinct. Even in the wake of this unbelievable level of habitat loss, West Virginia northern flying squirrels were resilient enough for a few residual populations to survive in small, scattered pockets of less than ideal habitat while forests slowly regenerated over the following decades. The squirrel historically lived in the old-growth spruce forests that dominated the highlands until extensive industrial logging decimated this habitat between the 1880s and the 1940s, it is estimated that during this time period the squirrels’ historic habitat shrank by over 900 million acres. West Virginia northern flying squirrels live in high-elevation, spruce-northern hardwood forests of the Allegheny Highlands consisting of red spruce, fir, beech, yellow birch, sugar or red maple, hemlock, and black cherry. These precious creatures are a remnant of former ages when the earth was a very different place, the West Virginia northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus) was isolated from the northern flying squirrel species when ice sheets covering North America receded about 10,000 years ago. People would think such creatures were very special and that it was remarkable, possibly even miraculous, that these animals from ancient times were living in our present age.Ī subspecies as old as mastodons lives today in isolated clusters atop the central Appalachian Mountains in the highest elevations of West Virginia and adjacent Highland County, Virginia. Imagine if small families of mastodons lived in isolated areas on mountaintops.
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