I Love to Observe Squirrels

    Squirrels are very mysterious and fascinating animals. The way they survive in the wild is interesting to know.

    They have, as most animals do, a very special way to survive in the wild.When you approach a squirrel, what does it do? Does it climb up your shoulder, carry on its business, or does it run frantically to a nearby tree?

The last one is correct, for this is an automatic instinct for all squirrels. When feeling attacked or stalked by a predator, since the little squirrel is prey, it will run quickly up a tree to be out of reach from the predator. Squirrels usually do not live in the prairie or savanna for this very reason because there is no trees there. But, what if this specific predator can climb (like us humans)? This member of the rodent family can also run up, down, or horizontally in the tree with maximum agility. This is another precaution given to the squirrel by mother nature.


Every living organism needs food. This includes the squirrel. As many of you probably know, squirrels like and eat nuts of different kinds.(mostly acorns) Even though they do have a wide variety of things to eat, a squirrel's main diet and food source is the acorn. This true member of the Sciuridae family, as most of them do, has sharp teeth that keep growing and growing. This is vital to its family to crack open the hard, outer shell of the acorn and eat the nutritious nut inside.

But, how do they get those yummy acorns? Well, when a squirrel's clingy, sharp claws grab the very steep side of the tree, they also are frantically sniffing the area around it, for those nuts. Once it catches the scent of one, it will scurry over the tip of the tree where it will use its tiny hands to pick it, stuff it in its mouth, and scurry back down, head first to the ground where it will nibble slowly at the nut, eating it down and consuming the acorn while leaving the shell behind.

In case the squirrel is not hungry any more, they don't waste and throw away, they bury the acorn to store for later. This is the reason why you often see squirrels digging everywhere; either burying acorns ,or trying to find acorns that they or another squirrel have buried.

I love to observe squirrels. It always a great entertainment to me. I bet if you try, you would love them too.