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Carolina Curious: Kids ask 'Why do we only have silly gray squirrels in NC?'

Falyn Owens, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, says the most common type of squirrel in North Carolina is the Eastern gray squirrel, but there are actually many different kinds of squirrels in the state. (Adobe Stock photo)

Falyn Owens, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, says the most common type of squirrel in North Carolina is the Eastern gray squirrel, but there are actually many different kinds of squirrels in the state. (Adobe Stock photo)

Sixth graders at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Winston-Salem are curious about squirrels, birds, bugs and more. They're asking questions like: "Why do some animals hibernate, when others don’t? Why don’t invasive species have predators? How do animals get their names?"

In the latest installment of Carolina Curious, WFDD’s Amy Diaz sat down with Falyn Owens with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to find the answers. 

In middle school, Owens decided she wanted to be an ornithologist, which is someone who studies birds. She did that for a while, but now she works with all kinds of animals as a wildlife biologist. 

“I have always been interested in nature and wild animals, and not just wild animals, but plants, and mushrooms, and it all functions together in a really neat, fascinating way," Owens said. 

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Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

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