Trouble is, when I tried to research it, I found that very few biologists know about this behavior, and one of the leading experts, Dr. *Okay, this post might seem to have very little to do with writing (except for the fact that squirrels are awesome, and therefore an inspiration to every writer ever) but for years I’ve wanted to write a book on squirrel migration (see #10). By spreading and burying tree nuts (like acorns and chestnuts) it’s estimated that squirrels plant millions of trees each year in North America alone! According to researchers, squirrels tend to forget around 10% of the nuts that they bury. Most importantly, squirrels are nature’s foresters. Although squirrels are small, together they are powerful. Don’t believe me? Here’s a BBC report of squirrels in Russia who killed a large Rottweiler that barked at them (Note: this story is graphic and may be upsetting for some readers). (If this doesn’t win you over to the squirrel side of the force, then try number 12).ġ2) Squirrels have been known to gang up and attack much larger animals. Since then, this mass migration behavior has gone extinct.*ġ1) The Japanese flying squirrel is the cutest thing you have ever seen.
One fisherman reported a wave of squirrels swimming toward his boat and nearly sinking it as they ran over him. The last great squirrel migration was in 1968 in Wisconsin, when hundreds of thousands of squirrels were seen migrating (and dying on the highway and in lakes). Where squirrels had to cross fields, they were killed by coyotes, foxes, and other predators, including people who reported killing hundreds of squirrels (and getting three pennies a pelt). But as settlers started to clear the old growth oak forests, the great squirrel migrations became fragmented. The best part - squirrels could do most of the journey from the East coast to Indiana without touching the ground. When settlers first arrived in this country, they reported squirrels being so thick in the trees above during a migration that they nearly blocked out the sun. It looks like a leafy piñata in a tree, but please don’t hit it with a stick.ġ0) Squirrels in North America used to migrate (or emigrate according to some wildlife biologists) in massive numbers, following cycles of bountiful acorn harvests. I saw it once, and it was one of the best days of my life.Ħ) In Japan, there are squirrel gardens (where you can pet squirrels with oven mitts).ħ) The white fur on the inner thigh of a squirrel is the softest thing you have never touched.Ĩ) Squirrels pull out their tail fur for their young.ĩ) A squirrel nest is called a drey. Except for Twiggy, the water-skiing squirrel.ĥ) The college I went to had a rare white unicorn squirrel in its central square. But can you run vertically up a tree at 12 mph? I didn’t think so.)Ĥ) Squirrels are good swimmers, although they usually prefer not to. (Unless you’re Usain Bolt, in which case you’re probably faster than a squirrel. Given that squirrels are less than 1/10th the size of people, if you could do this, you would be a superhero who could literally jump onto five story buildings and clear buses and trucks in a single bound.ģ) Squirrels can sprint faster than you. So here it is (with pictures), twelve amazing facts about squirrels for the uninitiated.ġ) There’s a squirrel superhero: Squirrel Girl! (And Ulysses –the squirrel superhero from Kate DiCamillo’s fabulous Flora and Ulysses, who writes poems!).Ģ) Squirrels can jump vertically five feet, and can leap between objects that are over ten feet apart. I’ve tried to explain my love of squirrels to folks before, only to watch them back away slowly and speed dial their doctor for a rabies vaccine.
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