Nancy Castaldo, "Squirrel: How a Backyard Forager Shapes Our World" (Island Press, 2025)

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Feb 10, 2026

Nancy Castaldo, environmental educator and science author, presents Squirrel: How a Backyard Forager Shapes Our World. She explores squirrel diversity across continents. She recounts their roles in urban parks, cultural stories, and surprising caching intelligence. She examines invasive versus endangered dynamics and why coexistence and better research matter.

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ANECDOTE

The Isolated Mount Graham Squirrel

The Mount Graham squirrel lives only atop Mount Graham and cannot cross the surrounding desert.
Castaldo uses this to illustrate how isolated populations face extinction from fires or other disturbances.

INSIGHT

Huge Data Gaps On Many Species

Many squirrel species lack basic population data because areas are remote or species are nocturnal.
Limited funding and low public attention mean researchers often can't study them thoroughly.

ANECDOTE

Squirrels In Global Folklore

Squirrels appear in global folklore, from Native American maple-syrup tales to Hindu stories about small helpers.
Castaldo shows how storytellers used squirrel behavior to teach cultural lessons across cultures.

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Squirrels are a common sight, seemingly everywhere in wild and urban nature. Their chattering antics in city parks delight us while their raids on our backyard gardens and birdfeeders never fail to exasperate. But squirrels are more than amusing backyard entertainers, and few of us know much about them or fully appreciate their role in keeping the environment healthy. As stress on the natural world intensifies, should we be paying more attention to the plight of squirrels?
In Squirrel: How a Backyard Forager Shapes Our World (Island Press, 2025), Nancy Castaldo shines new light on this familiar backyard mammal, exploring their staggering diversity (they’re found on all continents but Antarctica) and the many surprising ways they shape our world, our communities, and our cultures. Each chapter explores an aspect of squirrels and their close and sometimes fraught association with humans: their importance to myriad ecosystems through sophisticated food-caching strategies; their introduction to nineteenth-century urban parks as adorable ambassadors for nature; their complicated global status as both invasive and endangered; their role as celebrated cultural icons and social media memes; and ultimately, why we must prevent population declines and protect their well-being while we can. Like other wildlife species, squirrels are increasingly stressed by climate change, and their speculative fate may foreshadow our own. The book includes a detailed bibliography, an exhaustive list of squirrel species and their status, and tips for coexisting peaceably with squirrels in our yards and neighborhoods.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

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