Pine squirrels are squirrel

Squirrel

Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...

s of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Tamiasciurus. This genus includes three species, the American Red Squirrel

American Red Squirrel

The American Red Squirrel is one of three species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus and known as pine squirrels...

 T. hudsonicus, the Douglas Squirrel

Douglas Squirrel

The Douglas Squirrel is a pine squirrel found in the Pacific coastal states and provinces of North America. It is sometimes known as the Chickaree or Pine Squirrel, but since Chickaree is also used for the American Red Squirrel and Pine Squirrel for the genus Tamiasciurus, these alternative names...

 T. douglasii and Mearns's Squirrel

Mearns's Squirrel

Mearns's Squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to pine and fir forests at altitudes of in central Baja California in Mexico. This endangered species occurs in low densities and is threatened by habitat loss...

 T. mearnsi. All are native to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

: pine squirrels can be found in the northern and western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, most of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, and northwestern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

Description

Pine squirrels are small tree squirrels with bushy tails, and along with members of the genus Sciurus, they are members of the large family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Sciuridae.

The American Red Squirrel should not be confused with the Eurasian Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...

, Sciurus vulgaris - both are usually just referred to as the "red squirrel" in their home continents.

In southeastern Arizona there is a relict population of T. hudsonicus considered sufficiently distinct to be awarded sub-species status, T. hudsonicus grahamenis, the Mount Graham Pine Squirrel, reduced to a few hundred members on the Madrean sky islands

Madrean sky islands

The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine-oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are surrounded at lower elevations by the Sonoran and...

 conifer forests at higher, cooler altitudes. They are the southernmost of the entire species, left stranded when desertification

Desertification

Desertification is the degradation of land in drylands. Caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities, desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems.-Definitions:...

reduced the area of conifer forest that existed in glacial times. Some authors treat the Mount Graham Pine Squirrel as a distinct species, T. grahamensis.

The name Tamiasciurus comes from the Greek "Ταμίας" "Σκίουρος" for "hoarder squirrel".