Mexico
Gallery
There are two subspecies of Mexican Gray (Gris Mexicana) squirrel; Sciurus Aureogaster & Sciurus Nigrescens. The ones you see here are the former. The latter can be found in the south & east of Mexico, as well as the south of Guatemala. These images were taken in the Chapultepec forest, in Mexico City.
Species & Variety
These are also called "Red-Bellied" (Vientre Rojo) squirrels, although they don't always have a red belly.
Perhaps most commonly, they can be largely gray, while having brown around the top of their head and a white halo around their tail, making them look rather like the North American, Eastern Gray squirrel. They also share the ability to store body fat, instead of growing a thick winter coat, but where they start to look different is their facial character, having a smaller / shorter head. Perhaps their most noticeable difference is in the variety of their coat colours, however...
Their typical belly colour is a little deeper red than a Fox Squirrel (which there is a Mexican version of), but it can also be white, cream, orange, gray, chocolate or black. They can have patches of those colours on their back and face, or they can be entirely one of those colours (most commonly melanistic). They can have white fluff behind their ears, brighter colours around their eyes and a red inner core to their tail, but none of these are rules. If they weren't the only squirrel in town, they might be quite difficult to identify.
Chapultepec Forest
Mexican Gray squirrels can be found in dense forests in the south & east of Mexico (as well as the south of Guatamala)
Mexico City sits at 2,240m (7,349 ft) above sea level. That's nearly 300m (984 ft) higher than you can find alpine squirrels in Europe. Fun fact; Chapultepec forest sits inside a dormant Volcano, the active volcano (Popocatépetl), can be seen on the horizon (on low smog days) 70km to the south-east. Squirrels nest up to the tree line of Popocatépetl, at 3800m (12,467 ft)! Thus, they are well adapted to living at high altitude. The crater of Popocatépetl is a staggering 5,452m (17,887 ft)! That is 818m (2,683ft) higher than the tallest mountain in Switzerland, or 1031m (3,383 ft) higher than the tallest mountain in the Contiguous United States (mt. Whitney).
Climate
This subtropical climate almost never freezes, even at Popocatépetl's tree line, providing animals with more friendly temperatures and access to more consistent food sources. In December, the temperatures were between +10 to +25°c (50-77°f) with high humidity. Despite this being a dry season, the plants looked happy and trees were proving fruit, which the squirrels were eating. This does not happen in Europe at this time of the year. Back in Sweden, the temperatures are between -10 to +10°c (14-50°f), this time of year.
Geo Note
I had some comments on my Insta posts assuming that it's summer down here in the "Southern Hemisphere". So, to clarify; Mexico City is in North America, and thus it's also winter here in December. The tropical climate is only tamed by the extreme altitude. In the North, I also confuse people back home when I say that I am in California, and they assume it's the USA. The Baja peninsula (which is all California) stretches almost 1500km South of the US border. These details appear to throw off Europeans more than Americans.
Chapultepec Castle
The Chapultepec castle (National Museum of History) is a popular tourist destination. It is a lovely view of the city from up on the hill, the building is gorgeous and full of history. Well worth the price of admission, but just a word of warning; If you are also bringing food for squirrels, make sure to do that before you go up to the castle. Security will make you throw all food and liquids away before entering the castle grounds. We didn't see many squirrel up there, so it's possible that this rule exists to avoid encouraging the squirrels there and causing damage to the historic buildings. If your main interest is squirrels, there is no need to pay to go into the castle. Most of the squirrels that we found were near the base of the hill that the castle sits on, which you don't need to pay to get to.
Note: The castle also doesn't let you take water, or sell any in the shop. This seemed rather cruel when you can't escape the scorching sun in several areas. There are street vendors selling water at the exit at least, but I thought that might be useful for some people to know.
Food
Like most tree squirrels, these are omnivores. This means they eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, tree sap and mushrooms, but also insects and even birds eggs if they need to. During extreme food scarcity periods, they can also eat plants, or even tree bark. These park squirrels should never go hungry with how many people come to feed them. Unlike European climates, the trees here don't fully lose their leaves during the winter
Feeding
Like most squirrels, the way they interact with the delicate human vending machines is quite different from how they interact with each other. When you see them jumping, playing, fighting and generally being quite boisterous with each other, you might be a little apprehensive to offer food to something with incredibly sharp teeth and claws. However, they are super gentle and peaceful when taking food from people, but if you don't want to push your luck, it helps to stick the food out closer to them, so they can grab it with their teeth. Just be slow and calm, so as not to scare them. We didn't have any accidental finger nibbles with these (like we do back home), but we were cautiously offering larger food here.
We noticed that stalls in the Chapultepec forest were selling bags of raw peanuts, and people were buying them to feed the squirrels. Mexican gray squirrels (like other squirrels) can eat peanuts, but they're not ideal; unsalted, roasted peanuts are a better treat in moderation, as raw peanuts can carry mould, and peanuts (legumes) lack nutrients (calcium) of true nuts, potentially causing health issues like Metabolic Bone Disease if they're a primary food, so a varied diet of walnuts, pecans, acorns, etc., is best.
Note: If you would like to feed any tree squirrel, please visit my "Squirrel Health" page for more information.
Neighbours
Wherever we found the squirrels, we also found the "Great-Tailed Grackle" (Quiscalus Mexicanus). They sound as beautiful as they look. This one is a male, the female is brown and with a shorter tail. We noticed that somebody put out food and water for the animals here, which was very sweet. Possibly the park people. We assumed the birds were attracted to the same feeding areas as the squirrels, but to our surprise it rejected all the food that the squirrels seemed to like (walnuts, almonds and pecans). Instead, it seemed like more the snacks (sugary and salty) that people were dropping. We saw someone throw a crisp for the squirrel (please don't do that), but fortunately the squirrel rejected it.
Sociability
Another trait that the Mexican Gray squirrels share with their Eastern Gray cousins is a sense of community. They sleep together, play together and are not too territorial, at least within the family group. I am used to European Reds that cannot stand the site of each other, and once the babies are old enough to leave the nest they will be attacked for competing food sources.
Hunting
The Red-Bellied squirrel is considered to be a pest by agriculture farmers, which means they are exterminated near crops. They are also hunted for food. Despite this, they have been determined as a species of "least concern" when assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2017.
Equipment
I wanted to travel light for this trip, but I wanted a fast lens with the flexibility of cropping in post if the animals were not too close. I decided to bring the Sony A7CR with the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 mkII lens. This weighs1KG (2.26lbs) for the camera, lens and battery. Basically what you see below, without the grip extension. I feel like this combination served me very well. At times, I wish that I had brought the Samyang 135mm f/1.8, to give me more reach and better image quality, but it would have been 260g (0.57lbs) heavier.
Equivalency
The below image was cropped at 2.1x (yes, more than micro 4/3) and was taken at f/2. That's a 13mp resolution, with an equivalent lens of 182mm f/4.3 (if this was a full frame, uncropped image). As you can see, this lens manages to keep decent image quality at this reproduction ratio. Image quality wise, I would have been better off here with the Samyang 135mm f/1.8, or I could have made do with the significantly lighter Samyang 85mm f/1.8, which would shaved off a decent 240g off the weight of the camera. I think the latter would have made a better choice, since I often stopped down to get better depth of field.