This foot-long mammal has a very bushy tail, which is just a bit shorter than its 10-1/2 inch-long body. As its name implies, the Western gray squirrel has a gray or silvery body with a white belly and reddish ears.

Young are born naked, blind, and deaf.

They are cared for by their mother. One litter of three to five young are raised each year.

Gray squirrels live mainly in drier parts of the Ecosystem because they feed on the nuts of trees that are adapted to that climate; nuts from the ponderosa pine and oaks are among its favorite foods. They also can be seen in the lowlands of the wetter zones feeding on fungi.

These mammals are active year round. The gray squirrels build nests of shredded bark and sticks, at least 20 feet above the forest floor. In the winter, the squirrel may move to a hollow tree.

The squirrel is hunted by many predators, such as the goshawks.