Mexican gray squirrel

The Mexican gray squirrel, also called the red-bellied squirrel, is a tree squirrel of the genus Sciurus that lives in Mexico and southern Guatemala. It occupies a wide range of forest, from lowland tropical scrub and broadleaf forest to oak and pine cloud forest at high elevations, and it has been recorded from sea level up to between 3,300 and 3,800 meters. Its coat varies a great deal: the back is usually pale to gray with patches of other colors, the belly ranges from white through orange to chestnut, and black forms are common. Two subspecies are recognized, Sciurus aureogaster aureogaster and Sciurus aureogaster nigrescens. The squirrel is active by day, builds domed leaf nests in trees, and feeds mainly on acorns, other seeds, fruit, fungi and insects. Two pairs released on Elliott Key in the Florida Keys in 1938 founded an introduced population that is treated as invasive. The species was named by Frédéric Cuvier in 1829.