I can’t resist putting up a good squirrel rescue video, this one sent by reader Michael. Here a would-be actor rescues two squirrels: Daisy and Petunia (great names!).
Nice man rescues two baby squirrels
March 13, 2018 • 2:30 pm
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Aw, how wonderful! What a guy!
The Daisys (pl.)? don’t stick around for too long. I’ve never been that close to a squirrel.
Squirrels are amazingly intelligent for such little creatures.
Such videos make me wish to tame a squirrel for a pet. Hardly a good idea if one is already employed by a cat.
Squirrels make great pets but they do need to be entertained if they can’t run free. My cats and the squirrels around here just ignore each other – they don’t have a predator/prey relationship.
That’s really sweet!
My squirrel rescue story. I wasn’t going to burden you, but… Last year, a squealing baby squirrel showed up in my yard. I followed the rules, leaving it where it was so the mother could find it. She didn’t, and my wife told me “I told you so.”
I discovered mom squirrel had been run over, so I called a local wildlife rescue agency. After they found out it was an eastern grey, they said they wouldn’t help. In my area, that is considered a nuisance species. (God, I hate that!)
I told my wife that we had done all we could, but she was having none of that. It was time to Google “baby squirrel”. The information I discovered was overwhelming. Squirrel formula!? I was sternly told a baby squirrel needed to be raised with other baby squirrels. Where the hell was I going to find another baby squirrel?
Anyway, TMALSS, we spent two months nurturing this baby squirrel, trying not to let it get attached to us. It matured and was feisty. I have the bites to prove it. Finally we decided to release it in a wildlife park nearby where other squirrels are known to loiter. I thought it was over.
One night my wife said, apropos nothing, “I hope ‘our’ squirrel is okay.” I told it was not ‘our’ squirrel, but a wild squirrel who would have to look after itself.
Recently we took a walk in the wildlife park where we released ‘our’ squirrel and, wouldn’t you know it, a squirrel chattered at us from a big-leaf maple tree. My wife immediately decided it was ‘our’ squirrel and it recognized us. I pointed out there were probably over a thousand squirrels in this 700 acre park, and the big-leaf maple was nowhere near where we released the squirrel. But she is having none of that. Today I noticed “peanuts” on the grocery list.
Sounds like your wife is the sensible one in the family. Give her my plaudits!
Ha ha. You’re right, and I will.
Great story, Darwinwins. Or should I say, ‘Darwin’s wife wins’?
Squirrels are selfish, greedy animals. If you give a peanut to one it knows to immediately start running because other squirrels nearby will immediately chase it and try to steal the peanut.
I was particularly shocked when I saw two squirrels come out of the same nest when they saw me tossing peanuts, and they behaved the same way – one got hold of a peanut, the other immediately chased it and tried to steal its food.
Awww! What an upper!
The Chinese had this rather lovely tribute to Hawking. It reads “Travel well, you who is in a parallel world”.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/1831D/production/_100410199_d440f8c6-3130-4c87-9182-14dcba9364a7.jpg
Touching.