(PHOTO CREDIT: Kaibab Squirrel at Grand Canyon, originally uploaded by Live Simply.)
The kaibab squirrel is a white-tailed squirrel found only in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona.
Today, on Squirrel Appreciation Day, the workers of the Kaibab National Forest designated more than 200,000 acres of the parks to the kaibab squirrel. In response, Squirrels Squirrels Squirrels hereby bequeaths a giant acorn to the KNF!
From the Prescott Daily Courier:
“Dr. Joseph D. Hall, who conducted [an] evaluation on the squirrel and its habitat, stated that the Kaibab squirrel is, in a local way, as significant a species as the finches Charles Darwin studied on the Galapagos Islands.
Like the finches of the Galapagos, natural geographic boundaries including the Grand Canyon have restricted the Kaibab squirrel’s movement and allowed it to evolve into the species seen today.”
Oh Grand Canyon squirrels. That one is surprisingly calm. Most of them are so accustomed to people that they tug and claw up your leg begging for food! One dug through my backpack while I was sitting at the rim looking out into the canyon.