Interesting Facts About Squirrels

Dec 12, 2016 | General

Squirrels. Many people love to hate on squirrels. But like the mosquito, squirrels have their place in the food chain and play a role in the ecosystem. Sure, they can be a nuisance in your home. From chewing wires to dropping waste 40 or 50 times a day, they can be a horrible pain in the butt. But did you know that they are gifted with a great sense of smell? In addition to being fast, squirrels are able to smell food that’s been buried in up to one foot of snow! Hang in there for a load of great facts about squirrels!

squirrel in the snow

Their Front Teeth Are Always Growing

Even as adults squirrels’ front teeth are regenerating, or re-growing. By nature, they are gnawers and use their teeth for the majority of tasks. So that gnawing keeps their teeth at optimum length for chewing, digging, hollowing out trees, and protecting their families.

Baby Squirrels are Adorable

When squirrels are born, they are about an inch long. While cute as a button, it’s still strongly advised that you stay away from them unless you have been professionally trained. Baby squirrels can still bite and transmit disease or cause infection.

Squirrels Often Forget Where They’ve Buried Their Nuts

Not to the point of starvation, but squirrels sometimes forget where their nuts were buried. Having buried so many acorns, nuts, and the like, they can’t always keep track of them. Eventually, this causes more trees to grow. Squirrels have inadvertently been helping build forests for hundreds of years.

Squirrels Gain Weight to Survive The Winter

Even though they have winter coats that thicken in the cold weather, squirrels add an extra layer of body fat to help insulate during the cooler months. It would be pretty awesome if they had little squirrel jackets, but the extra girth will suffice until that day comes.

Squirrels Know How to Employ Zigzag Evasive Moves

Much like a football player trying not to get tackled, or a prisoner running from an archer, squirrels use the old zigzag. Just because they’re small and have small brains does not make them stupid. This is especially useful when running from predatory birds and other creatures that rely on traveling in typically straight lines.

They Lose About a Quarter of Their Buried Food to Scavengers

It’s tough to keep track of all your stuff all the time. Squirrels are no different. They have so many piles of food and nuts buried, that they can’t always guard it all. Unfortunately for them, they lose a portion of it to thieves and other critters.