Yukon Wildlife Series by Juliana Balluffi-Fry

Carrying Pups to Safety. Mother red squirrels know that it’s best to have nests in multiple trees instead of just one. This tactic is so that if their pups’ nest is disturbed, they can quickly get the young into a new, safe, and ready-made nest. When being picked up for transport, pups instinctively curl up into balls so their mother can carry them efficiently. It is quite impressive how big these pups can get, like the one in this photo, and still be carried by their mom.

Juliana graduated in 2017 from an undergraduate degree in Environmental and Wildlife Biology at McGill University, after which she spent the summer as a field technician in Kluane, Yukon for McGill research helping collect data on red squirrels and snowshoe hares. Now she is a master’s student at Memorial University of Newfoundland studying the role of ecosystem nutrients on both moose and snowshoe hares. You can find more of her photography on Flickr.