Yesterday, after second lunch for the ducks, I was chatting with a grad student in medical research when I was—as I often am—besieged by squirrels begging for nuts. After several months of getting them habituated to me and to the way I look and smell, I have made them fairly friendly (I want to avoid bites at all cost!)
At this point several of them will climb up my leg and onto my shoulder for a nut. When they do that, only a quick turn of the head is necessary to allow me to kiss them on their furry flanks.
See below for the short video showing this. The smack of the kiss is audible.
I can now credibly claim that I am the only person at the University of.Chicago who has kissed a squirrel. I may be the only person in the history of the University of Chicago who’s done this.
If any readers have osculated a squirrel, let me know below. (h/t to the woman who took the video).
And here’s another squirrel begging for a nut, unaware that his face is decorated with a leaf. With his eyes on the sides, perhaps he can’t see it.
Recently, I have touched a squirrel’s tail on three different occasions. I snuck up on them, They never saw me coming.
My sister once found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of a tree. She raised it until it was an adult, then turned it loose, It lived on her patio for several days, then it went to live in the trees. His name was Hercules.
I’ll ask her if she ever kissed him, and let y’all know.