14 thoughts on “Sqrl has a ball”

  2. Amazing. Really, that has to be play, right? After all, I presume the squirrel is able to figure out within seconds whether the ball was a treat or not. So why else would the squirrel interact with it? More and more I’m thinking that nearly all animals have a sense of play. Okay, maybe not scorpions.

  4. Play? Are you sure? Or is this a GIANT fruit of some kind it wants to get into it’s cache. Be careful.

    1. My wife just told me that the squirrel thinks it’s a big nut just like me.

    2. I was wondering if it was treating the ball as a nut. I think it was Konrad Lorenz who found some birds prefer the larger of two eggs, not matter how large and unincubatable. So this would be the nut of nuts. And likewise could the colour set off an unlimited preference for redness (if sqrls are chromatic)?

  5. So cute!

    Hmm, now I’m tempted to put a ball underneath my bird feeders…

  8. Sitting in the front yard a couple of springs ago, it was startling to see young squirrels running back and forth just a foot or two away–four of them were playing and clearly enjoying themselves! They were not afraid at all of the human company so close to them.
    One other tale: It was something to watch a (female) elk in Rocky Mountain National Park frolicking on a patch of snow–she really seemed like she was dancing!
    Things like this do make you think that maybe other animals have fun too!

  9. I’ve often seen squirrels amuse themselves for substantial periods of time with sticks and broken branches; they especially like to tumble around with ones that have big forks on them.

  10. Who says these rodents have no enjoyment in their lives?

    I was going to ask that question too. Who, indeed does make that claim.
    The answer (or at least, one answer) appears to be Brian Axsmith and Shuggy. Well guys, Shuggy has started a roll on defending that hypothesis, though I see that his defence is compatible with with a hypothesis that some forms of play might be based in otherwise maladaptive behaviours, rather than the strict absence of play.
    OTOH, there are many examples of behaviours that are clearly play within the juvenile population also being practice for much more serious mature behaviours. The classic would then be “play fighting” in animals widely spread through … actually, widely spread through the Mammalia. And a few others.
    Proposition (seeking counter examples) : play is restricted to organisms where the infants are to some degree subject of parental care. E.g. seahorse hatchlings, some birds (thinks : penguin videos ; ’nuff said) ; more mammals.

    1. There are various cases of play not only in crocodilians, which have some post-hatching parental care, but also in turtles and Komodo dragons that don’t. See e.g. here on TetZoo.

      1. Crocs don’t surprise me ; turtles and dragons though … I’m going to have to follow that link. After lunch.

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