Squirrels!

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day

Squirrels get lots of attention from humans, but not always much appreciation. We tend to dwell on the stolen birdseed or the occupied attics, but squirrels have a long, mostly harmless — and often entertaining — history of living in our midst.

That's the focus of Squirrel Appreciation Day, founded in 2001 by North Carolina wildlife rehabilitator Christy Hargrove. Squirrels are widespread and widely beloved, and despite their penchant for mischief, they generally avoid the severe scorn we hold for other semi-urban animals like rats, pigeons and opossums.

Squirrel Appreciation Day is Jan. 21 every year, and much like Elephant Appreciation Day, it's pretty decentralized. As Hargrove explains on her website, "while there are no official events scheduled, you can help celebrate by putting out extra food for the squirrels." She also warns, though, that "too many treats will lead to health problems." (And feeding any wild animal on a regular basis could make it dependent.)
______________________________
And I didn't even get them a card...

From Sports Illustrated:
Skip Schumaker’s 2012 Baseball Card Features Rally Squirrel, Not Schumaker
Skip Schumaker’s 2012 Topps baseball card features only his right foot and the St. Louis Cardinals’ rally squirrel, who rose to fame last year during the National League Divisional Series, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The squirrel, which famously disrupted Game 4 of the NLDS became a symbol for the Cardinals march to an eventual World Series title in 2011. The card, which is intended to be Schumaker’s, features the squirrel almost exclusively.

The card, which can be seen here, is the first one in Topps history to not feature a player’s face.


Schumaker calls squirrel card 'ridiculous'

ridiculous???? Well then `skip` Schumaker !!!!! sore looser !! imagine being jealous of a squirrel ?

....

Learn to speak squirrel in four easy lessons

From the Washington Post:
By John Kelly, Published: April 9

Robert Lishak knows what the squirrels are saying.

What we may hear as nonsensical chattering the Auburn University biology professor perceives as the back and forth of squirrels communicating with one another — and with other animals, as well.

Lishak and his students spend hours in the field recording vocalizations and making observations. They even give squirrels something to talk about. They started out with a model of a cat that was pulled on a tether. Later, they trained domestic cats to hunt squirrels. (Don’t worry, squirrel-lovers. A monofilament line keeps the cats from actually catching one.)

Among their findings: Squirrels are observant. The way a cat moves through an area affects squirrel reaction. “If the cat is walking at an even pace, the squirrels ignore it,” Lishak said. “Stalking — starting, stopping — sets off alarm signals. If the cat makes eye contact, it sets them off in a New York minute.”

Squirrels are discerning, too. How are they able to distinguish between a harmless rabbit and a threatening cat, even from a perch high in the trees?

“It’s a pretty complex question,” Lishak said, and one he’s trying to answer.

For now, follow this guide and you, too, can speak like squirrels — or at least understand them.

Full Story with sounds and everything!

Awe.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From a post for College Freshmen:

2. Squirrels on college campuses have absolutely no fear of humans.

If your mom was like mine, she constantly warned you to stay away from squirrels due to the widely held (yet completely false) notion that they carry rabies.

Staying away from those cute little buggers wasn't much a problem, however, due to the fact that they constantly ran away and scurried up a tree if you got within 10 feet of one of them.

Squirrels on college campuses, however, have become used to humans. At first it's kind of cute; they sometimes will even run up to you and beg for food. But after a while, it can get to be a little creepy. Sometimes the same squirrel will follow you from one class to another. Other times, a group of squirrels will be in your path and refuse to move, putting you in the humiliating position of stepping aside for a small rodent.

Pyotr Pankratau And Minsk: Soldier Rescues Squirrel, Takes Him To New Job (PHOTOS)

Pyotr Pankratau was a soldier in the Belarussian army when he rescued a weak baby squirrel on the verge of death. Two years later, Pankratau is now a taxi-driver, but the squirrel never leaves his side.

Soldiers in Belarus found the feeble baby squirrel and brought him to Pankratau, who was their warrant officer. Pankratau took in the tiny squirrel, feeding it like a baby every four hours until it returned to health.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS)

That's nuts! Three fire engines sent to rescue tiny SQUIRREL from pond after it fell from tree

Firemen responded to call to say a squirrel was stranded in pond
Squirrels know how to swim but only do so as a last resort

By Sean O'hare

It must have been a quiet day at the Watford fire station yesterday as a team of seven firefighters turned out to rescue a hapless squirrel stranded on reeds in the middle of a town pond.

The firefighters arrived in three fire engines after a member of the public called to say the squirrel was stuck.

The squirrel could not climb back up the steep concrete walls and had taken refuge on a small island of rocks in the high street pond in Watford, Hertfordshire yesterday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2258432/Three-engines-sent-rescue-tiny-SQUIRREL-Watford-pond-fell-tree.html#ixzz2HJLYqKt4

Ariz. officials: Squirrel, snake in bizarre brawl

GOLD CANYON, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities rushed to an Arizona woman's home after she called to report a brutal brawl on her back patio — between a ground squirrel and a gopher snake.
KPHO-TV reports (http://bit.ly/135LOua) that Apache Junction firefighters recently stumbled upon the bizarre backyard beat down at the Gold Canyon home and believe the two were going at it at least 30 minutes before their arrival.
Firefighter Ryan Philips immediately grabbed his smart phone to record the wildlife fight, which continued until firefighters stepped in and broke it up.
Officials say the snake had a few wounds when it was released back into the desert while the squirrel had only a couple of injuries.
Philips says he believed the squirrel had a nest nearby.
___

Killer Rodent Movie, Squirrels!



   

From The Journal of American History:
(long read)
The Urbanization of the Eastern Gray Squirrel in the United States

Etienne Benson⇑
Readers may contact Benson at ebenson@sas.upenn.edu.

If they had tuned in to radio station wrc on July 12, 1934, residents of Washington, D.C., could have heard a talk by Vernon Bailey, the recently retired chief field naturalist of the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey. Bailey was best known for his involvement in controversies over wolf eradication in the West, but his radio talk that day was on a subject closer to home and less politically charged, at least on the surface: “Animals Worth Knowing around the Capitol.” While he touched on a number of Washington-area animals that were “worth knowing,” he singled out one type for special attention: gray squirrels, which he described as “probably our best-known and most loved native wild animals, as they are not very wild and, being very intelligent, accept and appreciate our hospitality and friendship.”1
____________________________________
Some Highlights:

“probably our best-known and most loved native wild animals, as they are not very wild and, being very intelligent, accept and appreciate our hospitality and friendship.

fed by the humans who treated them as public pets,

Sometimes called the “migratory” squirrel, the species was known for unpredictable mass movements by the thousands or even millions across the rural landscape.

The only gray squirrels found in urban areas during this period were pets, such as Mungo, memorialized by Benjamin Franklin in a 1772 epitaph, who escaped from captivity and was killed by a dog after surviving a transatlantic journey to England.

an 1865 report that the squirrels of New Haven Green had “become so obese from good living that they are continually missing their hold and falling from the tree tops.

Russian poachers purge parks as Moscow goes nuts for squirrels
Extra police to patrol parks and hand out fines as large numbers of squirrels go missing to become household pets

One by one, the bushy-tailed residents of Moscow's parks have been disappearing. The problem: Russians have gone nuts for squirrels.

Moscow authorities bolstered security last week for all of the city's green areas after a city official, Alexei Gorelov, said he had received multiple reports of squirrel poaching.

Gorelov, who heads an ecological control unit, said more police patrols were being dispatched to fend off the poachers, who can be fined up to 20,000 rubles (£350).

Noting that squirrels were of little use for their meat or fur, he said most were resold as pets for 5,000 rubles each.

Wild animals "have to be enjoyed from a distance," said Gorelov as he scrolled through a Russian website selling squirrel pets.

Despite the website's claims that squirrels are a "friendly and gentle" animal to keep around the house, they can bite and are not domesticated.
    

PHOTOS: This Orphaned Squirrel Seriously Lives in a Girl’s Ponytail



An abandoned baby squirrel crawled into a teenager’s hair two months ago and it’s been living there ever since.

Abby Putterill adopted the little squirrel she named Hammy after her parents found the animal injured and abandoned at Zimbabwe’s Bally Vaughan Wildlife Sanctuary.

The 16-year-old, whose parents own the sanctuary, wasn’t bothered by Hammy nesting in her hair as she’s used to being around animals.
   

Why would someone invent a squirrel feeder shaped like a horse’s head? Why not?

By John Kelly, Published: April 7

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. When it came to inventing the horse head squirrel feeder, however, a rather more complicated process was at work.

“We were trying to think of a way to be nice to squirrels and humiliate them at the same time,” said David Wahl of the Seattle-based novelty toy company Archie McPhee.

David’s title at Archie McPhee is “director of awesome,” and the company does sell a lot of awesome stuff: bacon-scented body wash, an Edgar Allan Poe lunchbox, an inflatable unicorn horn you strap on your cat.

It has recently carved out territory in the hotly contested area of squirreliana, with such products as squirrel-shaped salt and pepper shakers, squirrel underpants (“Are you sick and tired of squirrels running naked in the trees around your house?” reads the ad copy) and tiny squirrel coffee cups (“As you sit down for your morning coffee, have you ever considered sharing with the squirrels?”).

But nothing is as weirdly captivating as the $15 horse head squirrel feeder, photos of which went viral soon after it went on sale a few months ago.



  <--- wants

The selfie that drove this squirrel nuts: Hilarious moment camera-shy creature ATTACKED man who tried to pose with it for a photo

A photographer wound up viciously attacked by a squirrel after he tried to take a selfie with a furry animal.

The unnamed photographer posted pics of the encounter to Reddit, showing how he went from smiling with what he thought was a woodland friend to running away with the bushy-tailed clinging to his back.

Click the headline...

Squirrel Alarm Calls Are Surprisingly Complex

Have you heard this sound in your backyard?

*sound file in article*

Maybe you looked up to see a squirrel, chattering away while flicking its tail.

Both the vocalization and the tail flick are alarm signals produced by gray squirrels. It turns out they have a number of vocal and tail signals that have different meanings depending on how they are used.

Thaddeus McRae and Steven Green of the University of Miami looked at whether these different alarm signals were used by squirrels, either individually or in combination, in response to different kinds of threats.
Kuks, Quaas, Moans, Twitches, and Flags

Gray squirrels have three different vocal alarms, which they produce when they spot a potential predator nearby.

  

Trinity Bellwoods Park loses white squirrel

Sad news today for Toronto's squirrel population, which is short one of its most noteworthy members, a white squirrel from Trinity Bellwoods Park. We received a tip over the weekend that the poor critter had been electrocuted in the power lines above the park, a fact which is confirmed by a grainy but convincing photo of the aftermath. It's an unceremonious end for a creature that enjoys near mythic status in Toronto.

Animal Watch: Squirrel was acting nuts in Ashburn

November 1 at 3:06 PM

ASHBURN , Partlow Road, Oct. 21. A caller reported that a squirrel was chasing and attacking children on a playground. An animal control officer observed the squirrel gather food and store it under a swing set. There was no sign of aggression. The officer told people there about wildlife hibernation habits.

Among cases received by the Loudoun County Department of Animal Services.

Squirrel interrupts Phillies-Cardinals game, jumps on Chase Utley

After Phillies starting pitcher Phillippe Aumont gave up four earned runs in the second inning of Friday night's game against the Cardinals, a nearby squirrel decided enough was enough.

Climbing up the protective netting behind home plate, the squirrel gave Phillies faithful some much-needed entertainment while watching their 23-45 ballclub on its way to another dreadful loss. The critter showed off some impressive balance as he circus-walked across the wire holding up the net.

With the crowd's attention, the squirrel then nosedived almost 30 feet onto the top of the Phillies' dugout and hopped in to join the team. Actually, right on Chase Utley as several players scrambled out of the way. The squirrel quickly scurried out of sight.

Perhaps it was a nod to Ryno that he's ready to suit up. Anything would help at this point.

This isn't the first animal sighting at a Phils-Cardinals game. Back in 2011, a squirrel disrupted Game 4 of the NLDS when he scampered across home plate.

The furry friend was back for more.

Wild Care Needs Pillow Cases, Thanks Public for Formula Donations

Pillow cases are useful in restraining and holding animals
ARTICLE | News | May 7, 2017 03:51 PM | By CapeCodToday Staff

From the fine people at Wild Care Cape Cod in Eastham:

Wild Care Friends. We need pillow cases! We use them for restraining and holding animals, lining cages, and animals like to hide and snuggle in them. (Like this baby White-footed Mouse who is fast asleep in a pillow case.) The uses are endless.

Please bring us your new or used, clean pillow cases. (No holes, lace or frills please. Animals can get caught in them.)

Flannel, and cotton in solid light colors are best, but we'll take what you've got.

Thank you! You can drop them off any day of the week between 9AM and 5PM. 10 Smith Ln. Thank you!

Executive Director, Stephanie
Donors Provide Formula for Orphaned Squirrels

We asked for Esbilac to feed our squirrels, and we received! Now we can whip up squirrel milkshakes for months.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/08/twins-squirrel-runs-through-max-keplers-legs-at-first-base?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

You gotta think that Major League Baseball players don’t think they’ll have a squirrel run through their legs while they’re taking a lead off first base in a major league stadium, but that’s exactly what happened to Minnesota Twins center fielder Max Kepler on Tuesday night.

And he didn’t even notice that it happened.

Kepler was taking his normal lead off the first base bag at Target Field in Minneapolis when all of a sudden a squirrel, who apparently made an appearance at Monday night’s game as well, bounded through his legs and carried on through the infield before the home umpire was able to call time:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/08/twins-squirrel-runs-through-max-keplers-legs-at-first-base?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

You gotta think that Major League Baseball players don’t think they’ll have a squirrel run through their legs while they’re taking a lead off first base in a major league stadium, but that’s exactly what happened to Minnesota Twins center fielder Max Kepler on Tuesday night.

And he didn’t even notice that it happened.

Kepler was taking his normal lead off the first base bag at Target Field in Minneapolis when all of a sudden a squirrel, who apparently made an appearance at Monday night’s game as well, bounded through his legs and carried on through the infield before the home umpire was able to call time: