Sciuridae; the Squirrel Family
The species in this family have long bodies with bushy tails that are around 80 or 90% of the total length of the body. Their vision is very good and they live, for the most part, aboreal lifestyles. The word 'Sciuridae' is based in the Greek language and means, roughly, sits in shadow of own tail. There are 3 species of squirrel in Europe; the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) that originates in North America and was brought to the UK between 1876 and 1929, the red squirrel (S. vulgaris) which is widespread throughout Europe but populations are very fragmented in the UK due to competition and disease brought on by the grey squirrel and finally the Persian squirrel (S. anomalus) which inhabits only the Greek island Lesbos.