Delmarva Fox Squirrel No Longer Endangered
Source: Discovery News
Delmarva Fox Squirrel No Longer Endangered
NOV 16, 2015 04:05 PM ET // BY DISCOVERY NEWS
The Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel will be removed from the Endangered species list next month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced.
The move has been a long time coming. The squirrel was one of 78 species to be listed under the original Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1967, a forerunner of today's Endangered Species Act, which became law in 1973.
At about 15 inches in body length, minus the tail, Delmarva fox squirrels are larger than other squirrel species, and unlike more typical squirrels they're not usually seen in urban and suburban environments. Instead, they live on rural, forested lands and in agricultural fields.
The animals once ranged in healthy numbers on the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) Peninsula. But mid-20th-century forest clearing for timber harvesting, agriculture, development, and hunting decimated the animal almost completely.
Now, though, its numbers are so robust that the squirrel is no longer considered at risk of extinction.
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Read more: http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/delmarva-fox-squirrel-no-longer-endangered-151116.htm
= new reply since forum marked as read
They’re… well… fox colored. The first time I spotted one, out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was a (very) small fox. (What’s a fox doing in that tree?)
