Journal Entry 15

Squirrel adventures 2
Weather: Sunny, bright, warm. Spring day in every sense.
Returning to the spot favorited by campus squirrels, Greig Garden, we observed more squirrels. Squirrels on days like these can be found virtually anywhere on campus. However, generally don’t stray far from at least some form of cover like a bush or grass. Despite how domesticated and comfortable these squirrels have grown with urban development, they will never be at home on the pavement. However, they will certainly be willing to brave the elements of concrete or brick if there is a delicious morsel of food to be acquired. We saw a squirrel climb out of a trashcan with a cracker or some kind of leftover in hand to munch on and subsequently retreated into the nearby tree patch. Other squirrels we enticed with nuts for bait and got very close up looks at. The squirrels on campus, as we know, are exclusively Eastern Gray Squirrels. These are very large, and generally look to be about a foot from head to toe, not including the tail’s length. They are agile and powerful, and are honestly a bit intimidating up close. Their incisors are menacingly sharp and could easily wreck havoc on an over-eager squirrel feeder’s fingers if the squirrel felt provoked.
These squirrels are very comfortable around humans for the most part given their constant inundation with the traffic of campus. One squirrel even refused to move for me while I was riding by it slowly on my bike, nearly causing me to crash. Their preciousness is likely an acclimation to their environment rather than an inheritable trait, as there have been studies performed by other university students testing the precociousness of Eastern Gray Squirrels found on their campus and those found in a nearby park, which concluded that the campus squirrels were more tolerant of human approach. These findings appear to be consistent with the anecdotal experiences of myself and the other members of my group. Similar to ducks or birds or any other animal that is used to being fed by humans, the squirrels have altered their naturally flighty behavior by allowing humans to approach them much closer, exposing them to the risk of predation for the reward of easy food. Having learned about squirrel behaviors such as scatter hoarding, I can observe some of these patterns for myself when the squirrels will not finish their food, and merely take the nut or whatever and scamper off into the denser foliage. This is likely done to create a small burrow in which to hold this new food portion for future consumption.
Campus squirrels seem to have found an easy living by being accommodating to humans and adapting to the easy sources of food from thrown away garbage to handouts from excited observers and making their homes amongst heavily trafficked areas on campus.

Posted on June 5, 2012 11:13 AM by keenan44