A small red squirrel found at the base of a tree in laurencekirk, Kincardineshire has been receiving round the clock care from the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA).
The charity has said that they believe that the young squirrel, named Aussie, would only have 20% to 50% survival rate in the wild.
He is being cared for at their Wildlife Rescue Centre at Middlebank Farm near Dunfermline, Fife.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said in a statement: "Aussie was lucky to be found, as he would have been vulnerable to predators, such as cats, dogs, foxes and predatory birds, when he was sat on the ground at the bottom of the tree.
"As with all our wildlife, we try to keep human contact to an absolute minimum. The only real contact he has with us is when we're feeding him.
"He's being hand-fed at four hourly intervals starting at 6am and finishing at 10pm and at the moment he's doing really well."
He added: "Young squirrels, known as kittens, are normally weaned from their mother's milk at around eight to twelve weeks, and even then they only have a 20 to 50% survival rate.
"However, we hope that Aussie continues to progress with us. We would love to be able to release him back to his natural habitat."
The red squirrel is native to the UK and nearly 755 of the total population are found in Scotland.
The number of red squirrels are in decline as a result of competition with the introduced grey squirrels, disease and loss of natural habitat.
There are around 145,000 red squirrels in the UK compared to over 2.5million greys. The red squirrel is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
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