Caucasian squirrel
Sciurus anomalus
A medium tree squirrel with a chestnut-grey back, a pale eye-ring, and a rusty to yellowish belly that is not white. It is native and resident in Georgia.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Seeds / nuts
Status in Georgia
Resident
Size
32–36 cm
Habitat
Forest / orchard
Family
Sciuridae
Conservation
LC / VU
Human interaction: It has no venom and is not poisonous to touch. It can bite if handled or cornered. Any wild mammal can theoretically carry rabies; Georgian literature names fox, jackal, wolf, and dogs as the main sources, not this species. Do not feed or pick it up. In some parts of the Caucasus it enters nut and fruit orchards; that is a crop issue, not a medical one.
Overview
What is Caucasian squirrel
The Caucasian squirrel (Sciurus anomalus) is a mammal in the squirrel family (Sciuridae). It is a tree squirrel and a native resident in Georgia. The type locality was later restricted to the fortress of Sabeka on the Sulori River, about 25 km southwest of Kutaisi. IUCN lists Georgia in the native range. Bukhnikashvili and Kandaurov’s 2002 mammal list includes it. At species level total length is about 32–36 cm, the tail 13–18 cm, and mass about 250–410 g. It has no venom. The main human risk is a bite if handled, not poison. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. Georgia’s 2014 Red List lists it as Vulnerable (VU, criterion A1e) because of pressure from an introduced species.
Last updated
Gallery
Caucasian squirrel in photos
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ·
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci
Saimbeyli ·
Photo: Yuri Samoylov
Vake Park, Tbilisi ·
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci
Saimbeyli ·
Photo: VisamLord90
Alaçam ·
Photo: Bouke ten Cate
Lesbos ·
Photo: Adem
Suşehri ·
Photo: Esin Üstün
Istanbul ·
Identification
How to identify Caucasian squirrel
A medium tree squirrel with a chestnut-grey back, a pale eye-ring, and a rusty to yellowish belly. Native and resident in Georgia.
- 01
Total length about 32–36 cm, tail 13–18 cm, mass about 250–410 g. There is no obvious size or colour difference between males and females. Claws are relatively short for a tree squirrel. The ears may show small winter tufts (about 1.0–1.2 cm) in the north of the range; they are not the long tufts of S. vulgaris (about 2.5–3.5 cm where the two overlap). The Borjomi-Kharagauli photograph of 4 June 2015 on this page shows short, rounded ears without long tufts.
- 02
The back is buffy chestnut-grey in the nominate subspecies (S. a. anomalus), which is the form of Transcaucasia, Turkey, and Lesbos. A pale buff to yellow ring around the eye is usual. The belly is rust-chestnut to buff-yellow — not white. The tail is heavily furred and may be yellow-brown to deep red. Summer and winter coats are similar; the belly may look rustier in winter.
- 03
The only other Sciurus in Georgia is the introduced Eurasian red squirrel (S. vulgaris), tabulated in Bukhnikashvili et al. 2023. Distinguish it in the field by the belly: white or cream in vulgaris, rusty or yellowish in anomalus. Vulgaris is more strictly arboreal and, in winter in the overlap zone, has longer ear tufts. A red fox is much larger and dog-like. The edible dormouse (Glis glis) is smaller, grey, nocturnal, and tailless of the squirrel look. This atlas has no vulgaris or dormouse page yet.
- 04
It is not venomous. A daytime squirrel in Georgian woodland or a city park, with a rusty belly and no long ear tufts, is this species if the identification is to Sciurus. Do not handle it to check pads or teats.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look for it in deciduous and mixed forest — beech, chestnut, oak, hazel — and in orchards and parks with mature trees. National Geographic Georgia and the Wildlife Agency describe the Georgian range as the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus and the northern slopes of the Lesser Caucasus. Koprowski and co-authors, summarising Caucasian literature, say beech forest up to about 2,000 m is typical and that pine forest is often avoided; that is a Caucasus-level statement, not a measured Georgian elevation belt. Agency pages instead say it lives mainly in coniferous and mixed forest. Those two habitat pictures disagree; this page does not choose one as a national map. This page does not colour administrative regions. Named points: the restricted type locality near Kutaisi (Chaworth-Musters 1937); Bukhnikashvili, Kandaurov, Sheklashvili and Natradze 2023 compile 71 Georgian records from 1855–2022 (mostly museum and literature, plus two unpublished field records) without reprinting the gazetteer here; Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, 4 June 2015 (photograph by ზაური ხაჩიძე on this page; the animal is on a conifer branch — one named locality, not a settlement of the habitat disagreement); Vake Park, Tbilisi, 9 February 2025 (photograph by Yuri Samoylov on this page). GBIF also aggregates recent iNaturalist points, including clusters around Tbilisi, Kakheti (Telavi), Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Kvemo Kartli; those are not treated here as a verified municipality list. Do not assume even density across the country.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range tree seeds are the main food: acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts. Caucasian accounts also list apricot stones, fruit (apple, pear, peach, grape, plum), berries, mushrooms, and occasionally insects, eggs, or nestlings. It stores nuts in tree cavities, rock clefts, or buildings, and in some areas buries them in leaf litter. The realistic picture in Georgia is forest and orchard seed, but the local menu has not been measured here.
Behavior
It is active by day and does not hibernate. Activity is often morning and late afternoon, with a midday pause in warm weather and a shift toward midday in winter. It forages in trees and on the ground and is more terrestrial than the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). Leaps between trees are uncommon in the Caucasian literature. Nests are usually tree hollows lined with moss and dry leaves, often 5–14 m up, with the entrance facing south or southeast; nests under rocks, roots, or buildings are also recorded. Breeding can occur through much of the year; in Transcaucasia litters of 2–7 young are most often reported in late January–early February, April, and mid-July–late August. Those dates are regional, not a Georgian den sample. The call is a sharp metallic chit-chit-chit; Stroganova compared it with the green woodpecker. There is no Georgian recording on this page.
Conservation
Yiğit, Kryštufek, Sozen, Bukhnikashvili and Shenbrot assess Sciurus anomalus as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2016 assessment; 2017 errata version). The global range is wide; the main named threat is habitat destruction. Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190) lists it as Vulnerable (VU, A1e): under pressure from an introduced species. That introduced squirrel is Sciurus vulgaris, released onto the northern Greater Caucasus from the Altai in 1937 and now sympatric with S. anomalus in parts of the Caucasus (Stroganova 1958; Vereshchagin 1967). Bukhnikashvili et al. 2023 also tabulate Georgian records of S. vulgaris. Field identification to species still matters. This atlas has no Eurasian red squirrel page yet. Local pressures also include forest loss and, historically, fur harvest; a current national trend is not measured on this page. Do not handle wild animals.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Caucasian squirrel.
Yes. It is native and resident. The type locality was restricted to near Kutaisi. IUCN lists Georgia as native. National mammal lists include it.
In deciduous and mixed forest and in orchards and parks with large trees. Named points include the type locality near Kutaisi; Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (photograph, 4 June 2015); and Vake Park in Tbilisi (photograph, 9 February 2025). A 2023 compilation has 71 Georgian records from 1855–2022. This page does not map every region.
Medium tree squirrel, chestnut-grey back, pale eye-ring, rusty or yellowish belly — not white. The introduced red squirrel has a white or cream belly and, in winter, longer ear tufts.
About 32–36 cm including the tail of 13–18 cm; mass about 250–410 g. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page.
Mainly tree seeds and nuts. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
By day, year-round. It does not hibernate. It is a resident and does not migrate like many birds.
It is not venomous. It can bite if handled. Do not pick it up.
Globally Least Concern. On Georgia’s 2014 Red List it is Vulnerable because of an introduced squirrel. Do not treat IUCN LC as a licence to take it.
- Yiğit et al. 2016/2017 — IUCN Red List, Sciurus anomalus
- Koprowski, Gavish & Doumas 2016 — Mammalian Species 48, Sciurus anomalus
- Bukhnikashvili, Kandaurov, Sheklashvili & Natradze 2023 — Rodent and hare records in Georgia, 1855–2022
- Bukhnikashvili & Kandaurov 2002 — The annotated list of mammals of Georgia
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- Chaworth-Musters 1937 — type locality of Sciurus anomalus
- საქართველოს ველური ბუნების ეროვნული სააგენტო — კავკასიური ციყვი
- National Geographic Georgia — კავკასიური ციყვი
- ASM Mammal Diversity Database — Sciurus anomalus
- Stroganova 1958 — ecology of Sciurus anomalus
- Enukidze 1960 — biology of the Transcaucasian squirrel
- Vereshchagin 1967 — Mammals of the Caucasus
- ზაური ხაჩიძე — კავკასიური ციყვი, ბორჯომ-ხარაგაულის ეროვნული პარკი (2015-06-04)
- Wikimedia Commons — Sincap, Saimbeyli (Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Vake Park, Tbilisi (Yuri Samoylov, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Sincap 02, Saimbeyli (Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Alaçam, Samsun (VisamLord90, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Lesbos (Bouke ten Cate, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — nest, Suşehri (Adem, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Istanbul (Esin Üstün, CC BY 2.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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