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Female Red Squirrels Were More Likely to Reproduce in Natural Than Urban Habitats

Eurasian red squirrel perched on a branch
Research · Reproduction & development

Female Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) were more likely to be reproductive in natural habitats than in urban and suburban sites in a study across northern Italy. The research, first published on 24 March 2026, examined how urbanization, season, body mass and personality were related to reproductive condition.

The researchers analysed 204 records from 72 females across 12 sites spanning natural, suburban and urban environments. For each record they assessed whether a female was reproductive and combined this with body mass, season and behavioural measures of activity, exploration and sociability.

Body mass was the strongest predictor

Body mass was the strongest factor associated with whether a female was reproductive. Females were also more likely to be reproductive in spring than in autumn or winter, and part of this seasonal pattern was linked to higher body mass in spring.

Urbanization showed a separate relationship with reproduction. The probability of being reproductive was higher in natural habitats than in urban and suburban sites. This pattern appeared despite females in urban and suburban sites tending to be slightly heavier than those in natural habitats. Across those human-dominated habitats, females had 16.2% fewer reproductive events than females in natural populations.

Urban squirrels were less exploratory

Females in natural sites showed more exploratory behaviour than those in urban sites. However, activity, exploration and sociability did not have significant direct effects on reproduction, and the study found no significant indirect effects of personality through body mass.

The authors therefore found that differences in behaviour between habitats did not translate directly into differences in reproductive condition. Instead, body mass and environmental context were more important in explaining whether females were reproductive.

Sources and image credit

  1. Mazzamuto, M. V., Tranquillo, C., Bertolino, S., Bisi, F., Santicchia, F., Preatoni, D., Martinoli, A., & Wauters, L. A. (2026). Functional trait interactions in a human-dominated world: Urbanization and reproduction in Eurasian red squirrels. Functional Ecology, 40(5), 1327–1338. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70312Primary peer-reviewed open-access study, Version of Record online 24 March 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Using 204 records from 72 female Eurasian red squirrels across 12 Italian sites, the study found body mass was the dominant predictor of reproduction and reproductive probability was higher in natural than urban or suburban habitats.

Image: Weeredfurries — Eurasian red squirrel photographed 19 June 2021; Wikimedia Commons; representative species image, not a study animal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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