Squirrel Trail Arosa

The cute animals literally eat from your hand - 365 days a year!

The Squirrel trail is definitely the most popular themed route among families. The fluffy animals are coming up close and eat directly from the palm of your hand; enchanting young and old alike. The trail starts at Tomeli-Street (below Waldhotel National) the path leads into the forest and ends at the bus stop Maran. Towards the end of the trail is a big playground with a barbecue area.
To protect the squirrels and nature, it is important to stay on the path and not follow the animals.

Infos about squirrels and the Bear Gang

On the famous squirrel trail children can not only feed the cute animals, but also find out interesting information about squirrels.

Besides that, there are various information signs about the history of the local Arosa Bear Gang. Who are they? Find out more about the animated and guided children's programm.

The Bear Gang
Eichhoernliweg 9-Arosa.jpg | © Arosa Tourismus / Nina Hardegger-Mattli

What the squirrel most like to eat

The forests of Arosa offer everything a squirrel’s heart desires: pine cone seeds for the summer and nuts for the winter stock. If you would like to feed the squirrel, please use unpeeled nuts – this helps to chafe the sharp rodent front teeth. An important part of the squirrels’ everyday life. But be careful: peanuts and almonds can be dangerous for the little animals.
Note: To protect the squirrels and nature, it is important to stay on the path and not follow the animals.

Hiking Route Squirrel Trail
Eichhoernliweg 6-Arosa.jpg | © Arosa Tourismus / Nina Hardegger-Mattli

Not only squirrels are happy to see you

Besides squirrels the forest is a habitat for numerous birds who also like to be fed. Don’t be afraid, not only the small sparrows and tits like to eat from your hand, but also the bigger nutcrackers like to come close and peck nuts from the palm of your hand.

Eichhoernliweg 11 Winter Arosa.jpg | © Arosa Tourismus / Nina Hardegger-Mattli

Do squirrels hibernate?

In autumn squirrels start collecting their winter stock by burying seeds and nuts. They do not hibernate but do not like the bitter cold weather neither, so they stay hunkered down in their den. When there is a break in the weather, they will venture out to retrieve some of the food they hid. This is why in Arosa the cute animals can be observed and fed throughout the whole year.

Eichhoernliweg 10-Arosa.jpg | © Arosa Tourismus / Nina Hardegger-Mattli

Nimble acrobats

In the forest the squirrels find buds, nuts, fruits, root tubers, insects, mushrooms, bird eggs and conifer seeds. They are hidden in the fir cones and have to be picked out. The cones are separated from the branch with the rodent teeth and then the scales are gnawed off to get to the seeds. A squirrel can gnaw off up to 15 spruce cones per day. The fur of the squirrels is foxy red to black-brown. In the lowlands live almost exclusively red squirrels and in the mountains almost only black ones.

Eichhoernliweg_Feb2016_029.jpg | © Arosa Tourismus / Nina Hardegger-Mattli

Tschuk Tschuk

This is what it sounds like when a squirrel calls his tree mates or young ones. In spring and autumn up to five little squirrels are born. The little ones are blind and naked and are cared for by their mother in the nest - that is Kobel. The nest looks like a ball. The entrance is sloping down so that it cannot rain into it. Squirrels hear everything - even in their sleep! But not only their hearing is great, they also have good eyes and a fine nose. They can climb, jump and hop - they can even swim and cross small rivers.

The virtual reality squirrel

We visited Zurich and brought along a squirrel...

See what happened.

Eichhoernliweg 10-Arosa.jpg | © Arosa Tourismus / Nina Hardegger-Mattli

Squirrel Trail Arosa

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