The red squirrel returned to our country after centuries of absence.
A long time ago there was a small cone pine eater rodent, expert climber of trees, dusky color, inhabiting the forests of Portugal . One day however arrived large groups of loggers who cut almost all the trees of the kingdom to build caravels would sail towards the unknown worlds Our little shaggy friend who knew nothing of such human follies, was forced to " migrate " to other places in search of shelter and food. Until one day ... five centuries later, the red squirrel was again sighted in the no longer reign, but the now Portuguese Republic, for the great joy of a biologist, Rita Rocha Gomes, researcher at the University of Aveiro (UA), which created a project for this purpose called " red squirrel in Portugal". The study drevies from her Postdoctoral , which " the main goal is to understand the expantion of this specimen in the national territory, which factors influence this enlargement and their patterns of behavior."
Develop with help of the Wildlife Unit of the Department of Biology at UA, this scientific project also wants to "do the genetic characterization of the species so that the final set of results, one realizes what is the future of the squirrel in Portugal and its expansion will continue, or conversely, be reversed . " To achieve data on this species in our territory, unable to be permanently present in the forest areas north and south of the country, the biologist appreciates the contribution of all the squirrels sighting or evidence of their presence by sending the records through a survey online, or the facebook page of the project. "
And let there be no doubt when you see some , the researcher describes the animal as "a friendly rodent with a very fluffy tail and that can be seen in forests , mainly in the treetops . Despite its name red the squirrel staining varies greatly, from brown to completely black , so it is normal to have some confusion when it comes to red squirrel . "
However , it is not intended only to collect sightings of this elusive squirrel, another objective of the study is to map a series of observations that indicate their existence in a particular place , namely " chewed pine cones that have a peculiar pattern, because these animals leave the scales the top forming has a small tuft , and are fairly easy to recognize on the floor of the forest. Unfortunately, because this species is affected by the road network , " one can also witness the dead animals found on roads " says Rita Gomes Rocha.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1oR3qkgQg-O4aON7_XQMIh-I-bJ3l7rGHzJckhkbrrWk/viewform
https://www.facebook.com/pages/O-esquilo-vermelho-em-Portugal/547722785306913?id=547722785306913&sk=info
http://uaonline.ua.pt/pub/detail.asp?c=37682
