This wee red squirrel looks warm and cozy in its winter coat here in the Scottish Highlands. The red squirrel is the only squirrel species native to the United Kingdom, but its numbers are in decline. It’s estimated there are only 160,000 left in the UK, and 75 percent of the population makes its home here in Scotland, where conservation groups are coming to its aid. The main threat to this group comes from nonnative gray squirrels, which were introduced here in the 19th century and outcompete the reds for food and living space. Perhaps the two species will make amends for Squirrel Appreciation Day, celebrated on January 21.
Red squirrel in Cairngorms National Park, Scotland
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Golling Waterfall, Salzburg, Austria
-
Cape Town at dusk
-
Traffic jam on the caribou highway
-
Cinco de Mayo
-
Red fox in the Netherlands
-
Zion National Park Turns 100
-
The Feathers at Frenchman Coulee near Vantage, Washington
-
National Moon Day
-
Frankenstein Friday
-
Henningsvær Stadion, Norway
-
The Millennium at 20
-
Badlands National Park turns 44
-
Cheers! It’s National Wine Day
-
Baltic Sea, Estonia
-
Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve in Layton, Utah
-
A whale of a picture
-
International Museum Day
-
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
-
Up, up, and away for Hot Air Balloon Day
-
Arbor Day
-
A new tradition in London
-
Diwali
-
Celebrating the Acadians
-
A tower of light
-
The Great Glen
-
Dancers perform ‘Revelations’
-
Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany
-
Snow buntings take flight
-
State funeral of Queen Elizabeth II
-
Bald cypress trees in Georgia