My, What Big Ears You Have!

photo of the week for Sunday, 2010, April 25
Photographer: Sally King, NPS

Though not "megafauna" by any stretch of the imagination, this critter sure has some charisma.

Abert's squirrels roam stands of Ponderosa pine trees in Bandelier National Monument and can be found elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain interior. While their dark gray backs with the reddish-brown smudge certainly are more colorful than some of their drabber cousins, what stands out on Abert's squirrels are their big tufted ears.

However, come summertime the squirrels lose those tufts and they look more like your garden variety squirrel.

To learn more about this critter's, check out this page from the Bandelier National Monument website.

On the Web: www.nps.gov/band

Comments

Submitted by Random Walker on May 2, 2010 - 10:31am.

I have had many days of entertainment watching these critters in the canyons of Bandelier National Monument.
At times it would seem they were aiming right at me, dropping cones and twigs from the high branches of a Ponderosa..

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