Eurasian red squirrel, Hokkaido subspecies
Amazing fact
The Hokkaido red squirrel uses the power of its lower front teeth to open nuts.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The Hokkaido red squirrel uses the power of its lower front teeth to open nuts.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Eurasian red squirrel, Hokkaido subspecies
- Scientific name
- Sciurus vulgaris orientis
- Japanese name
- エゾリス
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Sciuridae
- Genus
- Sciurus
The Ezo squirrel is a subspecies of the Eurasian red squirrel, which lives widely across Eurasia.
It lives in Hokkaido's forests from the lowlands up into the mountains, and is also seen in parks and in woods around farms.
Its fur changes color with the seasons to help it blend in, and in winter tufts of hair grow on the tips of its ears.
Because it does not hibernate, it buries nuts in the ground in autumn and digs through the snow to find them in winter.
How the Eurasian red squirrel, Hokkaido subspecies lives
It is active from the morning in spring and often during the middle of the day in autumn. It mainly eats tree seeds, but also eats flowers, sap, insects and mushrooms. It builds round nests at the bases of branches or in tree forks. It also nests in holes made by woodpeckers or in natural tree cavities.
札幌市円山動物園釧路市動物園Basic data
Where the Eurasian red squirrel, Hokkaido subspecies has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- エゾリス
- 简体中文
- 北海道红松鼠
- 繁體中文
- 北海道紅松鼠
- 한국어
- 에조청서
- Deutsch
- Hokkaido-Eichhörnchen
- Русский
- Хоккайдская белка
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 札幌市円山動物園 — エゾリスChecked: 2026-11-03
- 釧路市動物園 — エゾリスChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Sciurus vulgarisChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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