Are squirrels rodents or members of the fox family?

Question

Thanks to you all. I was right and my husband was.....wrong.

Answer 1

"Squirrel is the common name for rodents of the family Sciuridae
However, the Sciuridae also include flying squirrels, and ground squirrels such as the chipmunks, prairie dogs, and woodchucks."

Sure they look alike, but classifying of animals does only take account looks. The bone structure and DNA is the deciding factors today. Foxes are from the family Canidae.
The class of each is Mammalia but the orders are different.
Foxes and squirrels are as different as humans are to both.

Answer 2

Rodents

Answer 3

I believe they are members of the rodent family. Foxes eat meat, while squirrels are vegetarian and gnaw like a rodent.

Answer 4

Taxonomy
All squirrels are mammals in the order of rodents, Rodentia. The squirrel family, Sciuridae, is divided into two subfamilies. The subfamily Sciurinae includes all of the terrestrial and arboreal species except for the flying squirrels, which constitute the subfamily Petauristinae. (rodent family)

The squirrel subfamily Sciurinae, includes the 28 species of tree squirrels…

Answer 5

They are rodents of the family Sciuridae.

Answer 6

Order Rodentia
Family Sciuridae

Check the link for a further taxonomical breakdown of squirrels

Answer 7

They are rodents like rats.

Answer 8

All animals are classified as to their common genetic charateristics.
I'm only going to concern myself with the ones mentioned.

Squirrels including your ill reference Fox Squirrel:
Order Rodentia (rodents), Family Sciuridae
Marmots, woodchucks, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and tree squirrels. The so-called typical tree squirrels are members of the genus Sciurus, with about 40 species distributed throughout forested regions of Eurasia and the Americas. These are day-active animals with slender bodies, sleek, thick fur, and bushy tails. Their coats are black, gray, brown, or reddish above and light-colored below. Light, swift, and agile, tree squirrels leap from branch to branch and scurry up and down trees using their sharp claws to dig into the trunk; they always descend head first. The tail is used as a rudder when the animal leaps and as a parachute when it drops. They have excellent sight, including good color vision. The handlike forepaws are used for holding food. Tree squirrels make nests in holes in trees or on branches. They spend much time on the ground, foraging for fruit, nuts, and insects; they also sometimes eat eggs, young birds, and smaller mammals. Members of many species store food for the winter in holes or buried in the ground; they locate these stores by means of smell. They do not hibernate.

Foxes
Order Carnivora, Family Canidae
Includes dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes, dingoes and jackals.
found throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere. It has a pointed face, short legs, long, thick fur, and a tail about one half to two thirds as long as the head and body, depending on the species. Solitary most of the year, foxes do not live in dens except in the breeding season; they sleep concealed in grasses or thickets, their tails curled around them for warmth. During the breeding season a fox pair establishes a den, often in a ground burrow made by another animal, in which the young are raised; the male hunts for the family. The young are on their own after about five months; the adults probably find new mates each season.

In conclusion:
Squirrels are rodents.
Foxes are canines.
No they are not related.
I could further confuse you by going up the classification and say that both Squirrels and Foxes, Rabbits, and Humans are phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia. But I would hope you'd get curious and discover the differences on your own.


"toots"
Rabbits are not rodents.

Rabbits
Order Lagomorpha, Family Leporidae
Rabbits and hares have large front teeth, short tails, and large hind legs and feet adapted for running or jumping. In most, the length of the ears is considerably greater than the width. Although usage varies, the term rabbit generally refers to small, running animals, with relatively short ears and legs, which give birth to blind, naked young, while hare refers to larger, hopping forms, with longer ears and legs, whose young are born furred and open-eyed. Rabbits are chiefly nocturnal, although they are sometimes seen in the daytime. They have acute senses of smell and hearing. They feed on a wide variety of vegetation and are responsible in many areas for the stunted nature of the ground cover. When feeding on green herbage, rabbits, like hares, excrete soft pellets which they reingest; the waste products of the redigested food are excreted as dry pellets. Wild rabbits are frequently infected with tularemia, which is dangerous to humans.

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Answer 9

Rodents. They are related to mice, rats, and rabbits. Foxes are related to dogs.

Answer 10

rodents we call em tree rats