Squirrels

By Jim Amon.

A Gray Squirrel, the species that is most commonly seen in the Sourlands.

When I told a neighbor that I was going to write on squirrels, she said, "Don't be too nice to them, they are such a nuisance." If you maintain a bird feeder, or if you are tired of seeing your potted plants dug up to be replaced with a hickory nut, or--especially--if you have been driven crazy by squirrels racing around in your attic, you probably agree with my neighbor.

I, however, wish to be nice to squirrels. If we can dismiss the problems they create in urban areas, and dismiss the fact that they are rodents, they have some endearing traits. First, they are quite smart; at least smart in all things related to their food. As is widely known, in the fall they bury nuts so that they will be able to retrieve them in winter. If a squirrel believes that it is being watched while it is burying nuts it will dig them up and re-bury them--often more than once. Scientists have examined these squirrel caches and found that the squirrels organize their caches by quality and variety. So, if a squirrel feels like eating a good walnut, he knows which cache to go to. While they are famous for forgetting where the caches are and therefore planting oak, hickory and walnut trees, they actually retrieve 40 to 80% of the nuts they bury.

A lot of the squirrels' behavior is the result of their fearfulness. They have much to fear; they are the prey of hawks, snakes, people (people still hunt them and eat them), coyotes, foxes and automobiles. When they feel threatened, squirrels dart around in a zig-zag pattern to confound their predators.That may account for their being such terrible pedestrians, darting this way and that in the road but often staying right in the car's path.

Squirrels have the ability to scamper up a tree and to dash down--head first in both cases--with equal aplomb. Coming down a tree head first is a feat that many animals cannot perform but squirrels have the ability to rotate their rear ankles 180%, which allows them to grip the tree as well going down as going up.

There are over 200 species of squirrels world-wide but the Gray Squirrel is by far the most common in our region. Red Squirrels and Flying Squirrels are both present in New Jersey but Red Squirrels prefer a coniferous forest and Flying Squirrels are nocturnal, so neither are frequently seen in the Sourlands. The black squirrels that are often seen in Princeton are a variant of the gray squirrel.  

I would like to wish you all a happy National Squirrel Appreciation Day--January 21st, in case you did not know that already. The founder, a biologist from Ohio, suggests that everyone should put out a little food for squirrels that day since that time of year is the hardest for squirrels to find food.