No sex bias in natal dispersal of Eurasian red squirrels.

In mammals, dispersal mostly takes place as juveniles or subadults before first reproduction.
This so-called natal dispersal is usually sex-biased. Here we report dispersal distances and proportion
of emigrants in three populations of Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). Monitoring 32 males and
28 females, we showed that most squirrels emigrated and that proportions emigrants (69% males,
82% females) did not differ between the sexes. Also mean dispersal distance did not differ between
males and females. Hence, there is no sex bias in the natal dispersal of red squirrels.