Far from devoid of nature, cities are sites of dense human and wildlife co-habitation. However, wildlife seeking to make the move into the big city must first overcome a barrage of novel human-related challenges. In eastern North America, arguably the most successful of these fur-bearing urbanites, is the eastern grey squirrel (scientific name: Sciurus carolinensis).
The CitiSci(urid) Project is investigating the physiological and ecological characteristics that make eastern grey squirrels such successful urban colonizers, in addition to probing the effects of “city-life” on stress and wildlife disease.
Over the course of these investigations, the CitiSci(urid) Team will be administering colour-coded ear-tags to squirrels, and we are encouraging the community to participate by submitting sightings of tagged individuals using a paired citizen science project on the iNaturalist website/mobile application.
CitiSci 