Squirrel extreme assault courses Proof that squirrels will do anything to steal your nuts!

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/jan/21/1


Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in the Hofgarten in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Image: Crisco 1492 (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Germany license.)


Did you know that today is Squirrel Appreciation Day? Well, it is in the United States, and since squirrels are fun to watch anyway, I am helping you to appreciate squirrels regardless of where in the world you reside. Since it also happens to be Caturday, I found a few nifty videos to help us with our weekly attitude re-adjustment and at the same time, get us in the mood for Squirrel Appreciation Day.

Squirrel Appreciation Day is the day when you are allowed to enjoy your local squirrels without feeling ashamed (even if you are in the UK where you do not formally celebrate Squirrel Appreciation Day). Of course, if you are in the UK, this means you are probably enjoying the eastern grey squirrel rather than your own (endangered) native red squirrels, Sciurus vulgaris. The small, cute and shy native red squirrels are endangered due to the introduction of the larger and much more aggressive eastern grey squirrel, S. carolinensis (which I believe is known in the UK, erroneously, as the American grey squirrel). I sometimes think of the exotic eastern grey squirrel as North America's "revenge" on the UK for the introduction of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, and common starling, Sturnus vulgaris, into the United States, where both species are aggressive invasive species. (I should also point out that the eastern grey squirrel was also introduced into western North America, which led to the endangerment of the smaller, shyer and much handsomer western grey squirrel, S. griseus.)

Anyway, seeing as how this is squirrel appreciation day, I guess I am not allowed to say anything disparaging about squirrels, native or not, so let me tell you a little about the spirit of this day. It's held in the dead of winter because this is when these animals are most visible against the snow, gloom and lack of vegetation. Since there is a scarcity of food, squirrels are at their hungriest at this time, so they also are their most entertaining, as the videos here will show.

Even though this holiday is only observed in the United States it seems to lend itself well to being observed anywhere in the world. According to Christy Hargrove, a wildlife rehabilitator in North Carolina who started Squirrel Appreciation Day: "Celebration of the event itself is up to the individual or group -- anything from putting out extra food for the squirrels to learning something new about the species."

[Jim__]

1. "The squirrel has worked out that the extra nutrition in the hazel nuts is worth the extra effort"

But not consciously. What appeals to the squirrel? The taste of the hazel nuts? Can the squirrel "taste" the nutritional value? The question of why the squirrel makes the effort is worth exploring.

Great video!

[shanti]

2. and then you have the black squirrel

[ret5hd]

3. My wife and I were in Toronto...

walking down a street. In a stairwell was one of these, gripping a large piece of pizza that was stiff from the cold in his little jaws, swinging it back and forth in a panic to escape being trapped in the stairwell by 2 looming creatures that were making horrid cackling noises (us laughing). We stepped aside to let him escape, and away he went, a little black squirrel with a big piece of stiff pizza in his mouth.