The Big Cypress Fox Squirrel (Sciurus nigra avicennia), is an endemic subspecies here in southwest
They’re found from the Caloosahatchee south through the mangroves along the Florida Gulf of Mexico. Unlike most of ’s terrestrial mammals, the BCFS are
diurnal (day active), ground foragers. They feed on pine and cypress cones,
palmetto berries, bromeliad seeds and a host of other native seeds and fruits.
They prefer an open understory in the pine flatwoods, cypress swamps and
mangroves. What is unusual is that as development continues to slice up their
habitat, leaving it more and more fragmented, the squirrels have taken to golf
courses which retain characteristics of their preferred habitat – open grazing
areas with forested refuges. Florida
Additionally, foraging around a golf course may seem like the life of leisure but without the protection of a forest canopy the squirrels must keep an eye skyward for birds of prey.
Their relaxed social standards could put them at risk as well. Normally solitary, golf course squirrels that congregate are at greater risk of spreading diseases to one another like Squirrel Poxvirus. A BCFS was found to be infected in 2010 and although an outbreak has not been reported, the virus is spread by contact and would have the greatest impact on sociable squirrels.
Golf courses have benefited BCFS to a degree but ultimately these populations must remain connected to their backwoods neighbors or they are all doomed. Will anyone miss them when they’re gone?