WEBVTT - Squirrels, Ahoy! 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.119 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:17.200 and there's Chuck and Jerry is here. And this is 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:20.280 one of the greatest episodes will ever do. As far 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:26.320 as I'm concerned. Squirrels. I really wanted squirrels. I've been 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:30.720 seeing that all day. It's wonderful. That is so wonderful. 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:35.400 It is that song isn't But you know, uh yeah yeah. 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:37.880 If you go back and listen to BC Boys, you're like, wow, 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.239 they give them a long way though, and we're announcing 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.080 that stuff. Yeah for sure. Um, so we're talking not 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.280 about the BC Boys. Surprisingly, we're talking about squirrels in 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:52.199 the morning. It's squirrels. Every evening. It's squirrels. Squirrels to syllables, right, 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:54.920 I don't care however you want to say it the 0:00:55.640 --> 0:01:00.680 little squirrel sure or Boston I guess probably they say 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:05.319 it similarly as well. But if you want to get fancy, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.640 you can bust out their Latin name. They're members of 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.199 the Road in Order, but for their family, their scure 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:17.120 a day, Secura day. Nope, security day. I look this 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:24.320 one up, all right, Sierra die like my more. Okay, 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:28.840 did you just toot on my renovation? Yeah, even though 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.800 it was correct? Did you give me a bronx cheer? How? 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.319 How is it? Siura die? Well? Let me do the 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:40.120 person online? Sierra die okay? Is that Emma who said that? 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.360 Or Sierra Day was another? But I think we've heard 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.399 from people that d A E. S die okay? And 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.280 that's fine. Um, if that's what it's called, I'm just 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:52.720 gonna call them squirrels from now on. But there's actually 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:58.720 exactly three hundred species of squirrels, and it's it's kind 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.960 of hard to wrap your head around because usually if 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.480 you live in a place with squirrels, meaning you live 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.920 on a continent outside of Antarctica, yeah, like everywhere, Basically, 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.400 they're probably a lot of squirrels living around you, and 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.360 they probably all look basically exactly alike, because it seems 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.240 like when they fill an ecological niche, brother, they fill 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.560 it and there's not much room for competing species, it 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.639 seems like from my experience. Yeah, I mean there are 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.360 And who helped us with this was this? This is 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.680 a grabster. Yeah, so grabs your points out that you know, 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.960 you can find mountain squirrels and city squirrels and forest 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:44.280 squirrels and jungle squirrels and desert squirrels. You can find 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:50.640 squirrels in Alaska that hibernate with the lowest body temperature 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.400 of any mammal, that have body temperatures below freezing at times. 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.120 You can go to Africa and find one of the 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:02.240 cutest squirrels, the African pigmies squirrel, which is as small 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.200 as the tiny little mouse. Where you can go to 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:09.120 Bhutan and find the giant flying squirrel of Bhutan that 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.480 with their head and body and is over two ft long. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.640 With that tail, they're huge, no two ft long. Without 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:21.720 the tail stressing they're distressingly large. Yeah, because the squirrel 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.120 tail will get into this, but that's one of their 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.680 signature features generally, although depending on the species, because there 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.840 are three hundred species, like you said, more than are 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.839 almost three, some of those tails are a little diminished. 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.200 But usually when you think squirrel, you think of that 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.160 big bushy tail. Yeah, and not only when you think 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.600 of squirrel you think of the tail. But the Greeks themselves, 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.240 somebody decided that a Greek term would make sense, but 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:54.440 scurrios or scurios, which roughly means something like shadow tail 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.560 ed says shady Butt, also saw shadow tail, which is 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.680 a reference to how squirrels sometimes high in the shadow 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.240 cast by their own tail. It's pretty pretty clever, but 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.960 the squirrel is usually kind of the bushy tail of 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.160 the squirrel is what makes a squirrel of squirrel. One 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:11.560 of the other things that really differentiates it from other 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.240 rodents is the way that its jaw and muscle are 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.400 attached to its skull. There's actually a name for it, 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:25.760 sirio morphous zygo massoteric system. They look at you hooked 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:29.560 on phonics works for me. You even recorded the new pronunciation. 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.040 You worked it right in there with a syria die 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.359 I adapted, Yeah, because you should have heard it before 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.040 when I was work shopping it. That was the first take. Everybody, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:43.560 we're not lying, so um so uh. Those are two 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:47.080 things that really kind of differentiates squirrels. But as we've 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:51.120 really um gotten better and better at at taxonomy with 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:56.520 the introduction of UM genome mapping, we can see like, oh, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.880 this animal that doesn't look anything like this animal is 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:03.320 actually really closely related and with as with just about 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:08.080 every other animal we've studied using modern genetic m taxonomy, 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:12.160 UM squirrels are. Our understanding of squirrels has really kind 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.120 of changed shape of who's related to whom, who's descended 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.360 from who. But there's there. We're kind of going to 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.360 go the old school way, which is differentiating them based 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:27.520 on their habitat and their behavior. So there's three groups 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.240 of squirrels that we're going to cover, even though there's 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.880 technically five subfamilies now ground squirrels, tree squirrels, and flying squirrels. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.200 And before we go any further, I officially dedicate this 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.120 episode to Momo, one of the great lovers of squirrels 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:45.039 of all time, who changed changed me in my heart 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.240 towards squirrels. I used to be a squirrel hatter, chuck squirrels. 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.960 You remember the bird feeder Momo pointed out to me, said, Dad, 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.920 squirrels are great. I'm going to teach you to love them. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.760 And she did. Yeah, dogs and squirrels. It's what was 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:06.760 the Disney It was either Pixar Disney had animated movie 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.680 where the dog would just stop and go squirrel anytime 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:13.640 there's a squirrel. I can't remember which one it was. 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.679 I don't remember. It wasn't that long ago. But before 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:19.040 we move on, to ground squirrels. Uh. It is kind 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.240 of fun to learn that because of that DNA analysis 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.240 that we now have at our fingertips and fossil evidence, 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.960 we know that squirrels uh went to western North America 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.080 forty million years ago because squirrels like to get around. 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.440 As we will see, they crossed a land bridge to 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:42.120 Eurasia about ten million years after that, and then as 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.760 soon as they could, as soon as Eurasia met up 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.880 with Africa about twenty million years ago, they went all right, 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.440 we're in Africa now too. Because squirrels like to get around. 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.280 They as you will see. Um, well we'll just tease 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.360 that and say, squirrels like to get around. Yeah, I mean, 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.359 you put one tree next to another, squirrel is going 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.640 to go from tree a treat, but another tree is 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:03.560 gonna go the next tree. And if you put trees 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.720 all the way across one continent to another, they're going 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:08.640 to micrate. That's just what they do, and that's what 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.360 they did. But if I thought I loved squirrels before, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.280 now that I know that they're actually native from thirty 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.600 five million years back to North America, I just think 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.880 that's that's just the tops. Yeah, And we talked about 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.760 it before when you were having your bird feeder issue. 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.000 But you know, Atlanta is a city in the forest, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.360 and we have tons and tons and tons of squirrels. 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.880 Kind of everywhere along the East Coast does, but Atlanta 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.680 just has a lot of squirrels. And as I was reading, 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.920 you know, from my upstairs office, there's a window not 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.080 right in front of my face but sort of above me, 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.119 and are huge, big, beautiful oak in our front yard. 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.200 Um doing this on squirrels. I just look up for 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.520 a second and I see four squirrels running around that 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.960 tree together, playing like circling it like a barber pole. 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.360 I take my daughter to school this morning and count 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.520 the squirrels that I see on the way. I counted 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.080 twenty two squirrels that I just saw on a you know, 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.040 twelve minute car ride. You hit one of them there, 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.520 I have before. It's the worst thing ever. But they're 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.640 everywhere in Atlanta. And it hit me a while ago 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:21.880 about how easy it is living here, just or anywhere 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.000 where there's a lot of squirrels, just to sort of 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.160 be like, yeah, the squirrels. But it kind of hit 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.040 me like how crazy it is that there are these 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.160 little mammals. They're not hiding in holes generally like mice 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.960 and stuff like that. Like, they're just out all over 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.680 the place at all times. Were surrounded by these little mammals. Yeah, 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.600 out and proud. And if you come close too close 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.319 to one of their trees when you're walking by and 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:48.720 the squirrel doesn't like it, he's gonna sit there or 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.360 she uh and chatter at you and basically tell you 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.960 to beat it, you punk, get away from my tree. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.280 That's how. That's one of the great lovable things about squirrels. 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:02.360 They have such huge personalities, just so great. Chuck. Remember 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.040 my famous squirrel attack not too long ago, and that 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:06.880 when I went outside on I got it on my 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:10.000 doorbell camera and that squirrel leaped through the air and 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.280 hit me in the leg. It was a complete accident. 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:14.719 Of course, I don't think the squirrel was trying to 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.120 kill me, but you don't know. They're just they're all 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.920 over the place. We're gonna get to all the fun 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.560 stuff about the black squirrels of New York and why 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.240 squirrels stop in the middle of the road when they 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.079 go to across the street. Like there we found reasons 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.240 for all this stuff, which I love. It's not that 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:33.240 squirrels are dumb, and we're going to reveal all that 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.880 in this episode. Okay, I'm a little excited. I'm a 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:38.880 little worked up. I know it's a ted early, but 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.480 we're so squirrel positive that, I mean, it's a great 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:46.360 way to put it. Chuck, all right, so are we 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.000 taking a break? I say, all right, I need to 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:50.800 calm down too, And I guarantee you I'm gonna go 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.280 like blow my nose in the other room. I'm gonna 0:09:52.280 --> 0:10:17.520 see a squirrel. I'll be right back, all right, Chuck. So, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:22.040 as promised, we're gonna break squirrels down into three groups crown, tree, uh, 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:27.760 flying or aerial um. And I proposed that we start 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:33.160 with the ground squirrel, many species of which you probably 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:35.760 not you, but I mean you, dear listener, and me 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:41.640 I'll include too. Didn't realize we're actual squirrels like groundhog, 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.240 Chuck did not know that was a squirrel, chipmunk. I 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.720 had a feeling that might be a squirrel. Gosh, they're 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:54.200 so great too. What about a groundhog? You already said groundhog? 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:59.680 Did I? Okay? In a list of four things, I'm swirling, 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.640 I'm swirling still if my love is Yeah, well that's 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.440 what was coming out of my mouth. Next, Yeah, prairie 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.920 dog didn't know what about that mere cat? I didn't 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:14.679 know that. Well, that's because they're not but prairie dogs, chipmunks, 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.319 and um, what was the other one? Mormons? Yeah, Marmattan 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.800 brought them in and groundhogs. Those are all ground squirrels. 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.280 They're squirrels friends, um, and that makes them pretty awesome. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.400 But one of the reasons why they you wouldn't think 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.240 they're squirrels is because and a lot of those species 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:38.079 they lack that characteristic bushy tail. But then also they 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.400 live almost a totally different life from their tree dwelling 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.600 more famous cousins. Yeah. I mean they might climb a tree, 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.840 but generally you're not going to see a groundhogger prairie 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.280 dog up in the tree if they knew, if they 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.560 need to, you know, for a brief time, if they're 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.360 trying to find food or something or uh like on 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.080 the run from something trying to kill it, they might 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.319 go up in a tree, but they generally hang out 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:05.720 on the ground, hence the name. They love their rocky terrain. Uh. Chipmunks, 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.760 for speaking for them, are pretty solitary unless they're trying 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.199 to reproduce. But uh, I know that you've found some stuff. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.079 Was it on the prairie dogs that that have their 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.440 big families and colonies. Yeah, I mean that's one of 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.960 the main characteristics of of ground squirrels in general, aside 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.880 from a couple, but that they're much more communal than 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.880 tree squirrels, and in particular, the largest town a prairie 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.880 dog town is what they're called the largest prairie dog 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.520 town on record is in Texas, because of course everything 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.200 is bigger there, but there was a colony of black 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:42.400 tailed prairie dogs and this town, Chuck, stretched a hundred 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:47.320 miles wide by two hundred and fifty miles long and 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:53.160 contained four hundred million prairie dogs. Again, crownd squirrels all 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:57.720 living in this kind of large community. I mean that's 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.280 like it's like a Chinese mega city or something like that. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:03.920 Time's tend yea. So are these the ones that tend 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:08.760 to stay uh grouped with their own sex? Uh No, 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.439 those tend to be either tree squirrels or flying squirrels. 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.440 These are more the um because they live in in 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:21.599 communal groups and kinship is a big deal. Ground squirrels, 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.680 like prairie dogs, tend to have a really good ability 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.800 to send to smell the scent of other ground squirrels, 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.760 so they can tell, like who's a blood relation who's not. 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.760 And they've done studies to see, you know, if a 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.120 like if a ground squirrel, they have a lot of 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.959 really sophisticated calls too, because they're alerting others to the 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.360 presence of a rattlesneak or a hawk or something. So 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.359 they're really talkative and they have a lot of sophisticated 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:51.960 different communication um and they found that, uh, like a 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.440 prairie dog that will stand up and and take the 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:58.800 time to risk its own life to alert others, it's 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.120 actually alerting the others that it's alerting are actually related 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.120 by blood, and the groundhog or the prairie dog knows 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.760 this because it can smell it's blood relations among all 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:12.120 these other you know, extended family members in the town. 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.520 There's not much cuter than a squirrel sitting up on 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:20.680 its rear haunches, whether it's I mean, obviously those prairie dogs, 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.520 you know, they do it for a living, but even 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.480 our eastern gray squirrels sit upon those back legs. If 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.080 they want to work a nut with their little front 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.200 pop ads. Yeah, or a chipmunk on its back legs. 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:36.800 It's doesn't get much cuter as little busy hands. Goodness me. Yeah, alright, 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.080 so we can move on to our tree squirrel. This 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:43.520 is they're known as our boreal squirrels, obviously because they 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.880 are tree squirrels. And this is when you're talking your 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.960 eastern gray squirrel. This is not a groundhog. This is 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:53.320 not a prairie dog. This is your died in the wool, 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.080 cute little fluffy tailed sort of you know, they're called gray, 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.200 but they're sort of a light brownish color gener only, 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.680 although the colors do range, as we'll see. Uh. And 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:05.800 these are the ones that you're gonna find all over Atlanta, 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:12.480 jumping around, climbing around, leaping it podcasters in their front lawn. Uh. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.360 They spend most of the time. Uh. I mean you 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.480 see him on the ground plenty. But they live in trees. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:23.000 They nest in trees called Drey's or uh Drey's or 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.800 Drey's spelled within a year in a right. Um. And 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.040 you probably if you've ever looked up and seen a 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.120 massive like sticks and twigs in a leafless tree in 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.640 the middle of winter. You're looking at a squirrel's nest 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.440 called it dre um, and this is where you were 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.240 you were asking about them um staying in like same 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:45.320 sex groups apparently in the winter. Um. Even though the 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.680 tree squirrel does not live in a communal society like 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.320 a ground squirrel does, it's they're still social. They still 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.480 interact with one another. They play, they chase, they chase 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:00.320 one another off. They like mate. Um. But when gets 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.480 really cold, tree squirrels will um kind of group their 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.320 heat together by staying in a drey communally up to 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:12.640 like thirty members. Um. Yeah, it is very adorable. I 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.760 want to do a little exercise here real quick, Chuck. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:20.760 I want you to use your imagination. Imagine a very 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:25.560 cold winter day, the winds blowing, snows being carried on 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.320 the wind, and it's passing by just outside a woodpecker hole, 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.720 and we're inside that woodpecker hole, and it's dark. The 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.520 light is very very faint because it's it's a kind 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.000 of an overcast sunny day to begin with. But we're 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.880 also inside a tree, in an old woodpecker hole, and 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.560 it's lined with a bunch of different leaves, and there's 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.760 half a dozen or so squirrels all kind of snuggled together, sleeping, 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.320 sharing their warmth as the winter day passes by outside 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.200 and they snooze an afternoon away fat on acorns that 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:59.120 they all just ate. Boy, isn't that amazing? Almost fell 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.280 asleep here, real Abert Frost, my friend, Thank you, thank you. 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.399 I like to think Robert Redford crossed with Robert cross 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.840 but well, you know Robert Redford if you look in 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:11.679 the mirror, but Robert Frost. When you pick a bin 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.840 up with the touch of Robert Gooley, if you sang it, surely, 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.000 uh oh man, that really did almost put me to sleep. Um, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.920 that's quite nice. I love that scene. So here's a 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.560 little fun adaptation that squirrels have. If you see a 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:31.560 tree squirrel running down a tree face first with uh, 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.679 with little uh resistance, just like it was made to 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.200 do it, it's because it is. And they have those 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.720 little claws of course that really helps. But if you 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:44.040 look closely, or if you look up a picture rather 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:46.080 and you see like a still image, you will notice 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.199 that they have the ability to and Ed says, they 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.159 can turn their feet around. They really kind of just 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:55.920 turn their whole back legs around backwards to where those 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.840 claws are gripping on the way down, and that's why 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.199 they're you know, it's like the perfect adaptation to be 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.359 able to run up and down a tree. So, um, 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.679 have you ever watched one do that up close? Sure? 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.440 So any time I've seen that there, if you look 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.040 their legs, because they're turned around, it kicks kind of 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.199 their elbows out a little bit and though they climb down, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.359 it looks a little different. And I've noticed that it 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.879 triggers the part of my lizard brain that's like a 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:29.000 spider alert. It's like that comes that it's it's triggered 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.520 by that. So it's like a giant, furry spider is 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:34.840 coming down to some little part of my brain that 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:37.840 sends off an alarm and it's really off putting sometimes 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:42.040 until I you know, the larger part, the executive functioning 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.520 part of my brain is like it's a squirrel, don't worry, 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.359 But there's that one just zap of. Like this is 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.280 weird and scary for a second, but it happens to 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:51.920 me from time to time when they come down the 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.199 tree like that. Well, it can be a little startling, 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:56.480 you know, if you're going to take out the trash 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.800 or something. And your trash can is next to a 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.879 big live oak like ours. And there are two or 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.639 more squirrels that are They seem like, I don't know 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.080 what they're doing. They seems like I have a beef 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:09.080 with one another. But maybe they're just playing chase. But 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.439 when they're really boogieing up and down and around a 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.480 tree right as you walk upon it is it can 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.040 be a little bit like, Oh, okay, I read that 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:19.600 when one was chasing the other. Um, it's a part 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:25.159 of the mating ritual. Okay, So that's that's embarrassing for them, right, 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.960 I don't I don't know if that's across the board, 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.959 but I saw that in at least one place, all right, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.200 not like knowing that. Um. Here's another cool thing about squirrels. 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:36.719 They have all kinds of squirrels have scent glands, and 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.520 it depends on the species where that scent gland is located. 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.080 It can be uh, near their little bum hole. It 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.359 can be near their mouth in the corners of their mouth, 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:46.960 can be on their back. But in the case of 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:51.000 the tree squirrel, um, they have their scent glands on 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.119 their feet and sweat glands on the bottom of their feet, 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.840 and they are a squirrel that berries there uh their 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.840 food over large large areas sometimes like up to acres 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.159 can be their habitat where they're bearing and hiding food. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.120 And they are literally every time they walk to bury something, 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.399 they're leaving a little scent trail that they can go 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.159 back and pick up. Ideally, but it's not a perfect system. 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.560 Sometimes they will lose stuff and not be able to 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.440 go back. But what they have then done is planted 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:24.640 a tree, yeah, which brings up their huge ecological role um, 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.560 which is like planting new forests, like keeping forests healthy 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:32.080 by forgetting about nuts. And the nut is actually a 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.359 seed and it grows into a new tree that the 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.160 squirrel helped move away from the tree. It's amazing splaining 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.080 it's range. They're known as the gardeners of the forest. Yeah, 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:41.879 And we taught we did a whole short stuff on 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.440 squirrels bearing nuts, and I remember one of the things 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.280 that came up was, um, there was a study that 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.000 found that if they if they know they're being watched 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:52.440 by another squirrel, they'll fake dig a hole and then 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.480 won't drop the nut in it. And then we'll go 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.040 somewhere else and mislead a squirrel. It's that they think 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.280 is watching them. Yeah, they'll look around first and be like, 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.240 did anyone seen that? Yeah? I think I'm good Todd 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:05.680 was watching. I better not drop the nut in this hole. 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.719 He he'll come along. Uh. So that's what the the 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.600 I'm sorry, not flying, but the tree squirrels. That's how 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:13.800 they use their scent. The ground squirrels, we should say, 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:18.720 mainly use their scent glands to mark their territory. And 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:21.400 you know, because they're all about their clan and their colony, 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:23.760 to sort of mark their territory and find out if 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.400 someone is a part of their clan. Yeah. And then also, um, 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:30.000 as far as scents go, I saw some somewhere that 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:34.320 some kinds of ground squirrels that are prey to rattlesnakes 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.080 will actually find shed rattlesnake skin rub it on themselves. 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:40.280 I'll chew it up and rub it on themselves to 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:44.800 give themselves a rattlesnake scent to throw off rattlesnakes. They 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.479 camouflaged their scent. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I wonder if 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.200 they ever wear it and just like fashion a couple 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.520 of holes and stick their arms through. Yeah, and they 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:56.080 bragged that they killed it. Yeah. Have you, man, I 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:59.000 shouldn't even mention this. Yeah, I'm gonna mention it, have 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:01.720 you because it is it is roadkill. But have you 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.879 ever seen the pictures of the squirrel road kill with 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:11.720 a little G I Joe Action figures? No, just look 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:15.600 it up. I can. They aren't squirrels that someone killed. 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:18.040 It's it's someone will take a roadkill picture of a 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:20.720 squirrel and they'll take the little G I. Joe figures 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:24.080 as if they were big game hunters, and they'll have 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.080 their guns, and they'll have like one leg up on 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:29.040 the squirrel's head as if it was their trophy. And 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:33.000 the squirrel looks positively giant next to the Little Action figures. 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:35.600 And it's kind of funny that one out. I don't 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:37.760 want to encourage people. Maybe I shouldn't have even said anything. Well, 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.080 I don't know if you're encouraging people to like swerve 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:45.359 onto a squirrel, you know, or kill a squirrel to 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:47.439 do that. But maybe just look it up on the 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:49.320 internet if you want to see that. Don't recreate it. 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:51.800 If you kill a squirrel and we find out about it, 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:56.000 we're coming to your house, I know, with a ghost 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:59.119 of that squirrel. Yeah, that will introduce to your attic 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:05.080 you so have we moved on to flying squirrels yet, Yeah, 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:07.440 let's do it. Those are you know the old story 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:10.280 when we had one growing up for a little while. Uh, 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:12.320 you probably don't remember, but my uncle gave us his 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.280 flying squirrel to watch for a while, and he would 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:17.639