I know you’ve seen them around. They frolic like children in the leaves and grass. And they are just as noisy. Toying with gravity, they chase each other up and down trees and do highwire tricks across telephone and power lines.They are the fiercest scavenger hunters and hoarders of nuts with a purpose.

They can be pests or terrors in so many ways. Yes, I’m not talking about high celebrity squirrels like Scrat, who was senselessly crazed about an acorn. I’m talking about the average yard squirrels.

And they are daring enough to eat the tender leaves of many vegetable plants in your garden. One season, my husband replanted his collard plants three times. But that’s not my biggest complaint. They refuse to cease-and-desist from eating my pears. Between the squirrels and the crows, I’m left with very few pears every year. My husband says the squirrels have to eat too. I say let them go back to eating what they ate before there was a pear tree.

I guess I’ll get off my soapbox about my peeves with squirrels.

Some Unusual Things About Squirrels

There are some cool things about these furry, foraging, nut-loving, carefree tree jumpers.

  1. Did you know newborn squirrels are no longer than the top joint of your little finger? That would make them about an inch long. The newborn squirrel, called a kitten, weighs only one ounce.
  2. Squirrels are rodents. Rats are also rodents. But squirrels are more charming and cuter than deplorable rats. Squirrels are rodents because, like rats, they gnaw, and their teeth never stop growing. Although both squirrels and rats are rodents, they are two different animals. Another distinction is squirrels are the cleanest rodents.
  3. Squirrels have no code of brotherhood when it comes to thievery. They are hardcore thieves. There’s no regard whether the victim is human or a sister or brother squirrel. Squirrels surveil other squirrels stashing their nuts, and later on fish them out to add to their stockpile. I guess stealing is a fallacy that neither humans nor squirrels can point a finger against another.
  4. It’s difficult to sneak up on a squirrel because it can see what’s behind it.
  5. We use sleight of hand; I guess that translates to slight of paw for squirrels. This skill comes in handy when squirrels pretend to bury something but don’t, which throwing off watchful thieves.
  6. What surprised me the most about squirrels is that they are conservationists of sorts—either by intent or default.
  7. Squirrels don’t dig up all of their buried nuts. The nuts that remain buried germinate and produce more nut-bearing trees. No one knows whether not digging up all of the buried nuts is a voluntary or involuntary act. But the practice is beneficial to humans, squirrels, other animals, and the entire ecosystem.

The most common yard squirrels are called grey squirrels, but their colors range from gray, various shades of brown and black.

These notable things abot squirrels won’t change my attitude about them. But if they would just leave my pears alone, this might do the trick..

A Cool Poem About humans and Squirrels

“In the summer, we lay up a stock of experiences for the winter, as the squirrel of nuts? Something for conversation in winter evenings.” Henry David Thoreau

Be safe.