Survival and cause-specific mortality of adult fox squirrels in southwestern Georgia

Survival estimates are important for understanding and managing wildlife populations. I used radiotelemetry to estimate survival and cause-specific mortality of a non-harvested fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) population in southwestern Georgia, United States. Adult fox squirrels (n = 101) were monitored continuously from March 1998 to December 1999. I determined the cause of death to be predation in 7 cases, disease in 5 cases, and unknown in 12 cases. Sex and season-specific mortalities were independent of the cause of mortality; therefore, I omitted cause of mortality from subsequent analyses. I did not detect differences in seasonal survival between males and Females (P = 0.27) or among seasons (P = 0.52). When sexes were pooled, seasonal survival (+/- SE) ranged from 0.86 +/- 0.07 to 0.92 +/- 0.02. Annual survival of males (0.73 +/- 0.07) and females (0.66 +/- 0.07) was similar (P = 0.60). When sexes were pooled, annual survival was 0.69 =/- 0.07. High fox squirrel survivorship, relative to gray squirrels (S. carolinensis), challenges the paradigm that similar strategies should be used to manage harvest of fox squirrels and gray squirrels.