WEBVTT - Listener Mail: The Squirrel Is Not Enough 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.119 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuffworks 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:14.560 dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.599 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And boy, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.960 we got a treat for you today. It is time 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:24.280 to jump into a listener Maile episode purely about squirrels. 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.320 That's right. We put out the two parter right about 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.600 squirrels and they're they're they're bloody secrets and the mystery 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:35.720 surrounding them and some of the the folkloric ideas that 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.199 have risen up around them, and uh and what the 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.680 science actually has to say. I like how you were like, oh, 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.159 a two parter, right, as if you don't remember, and 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.480 as if you haven't been thinking about squirrels in those 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.120 two episodes every day since then. It's It's true. In 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:53.040 my own house, it's been quite a squirrel odyssey since 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.680 those episodes came out, because, uh the first episode I 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:58.800 had my family listened to, and I think I I 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.880 mentioned how we were watching a lot of squirrel activity 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.959 at our bird feeders, and uh so a few different 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.119 things occurred. So for starters, I was talking about about 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:12.640 the scugs and was referring to the squirrels uh as 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.800 an entire species as skugs. Yes, And in doing so 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.320 I managed to get the words scug kind of like 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:24.959 partially banned from my household. Well, me and my son 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:27.720 were using it, and my wife she was like, I 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:30.119 don't know this. This doesn't sound like a friendly term 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.800 to use for squirrels, and and and you eventually convinced me. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:36.880 I still think of them as scugs, but I I 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.200 catch myself and uh, and find myself referring to them 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.200 as squirrels more often. So that term comes from we 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.000 started using it in the episode because of that letter, 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:51.800 but from Benjamin Franklin, uh, describing the squirrel, his pet squirrel, Mungo. 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.240 I think that got killed by a dog, and he 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.760 referred to squirrels in the letter as scugs. I think 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.720 with if I'd stand the reasoning correctly, it seems to 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.600 be that Franklin thought skug was like a common name 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:10.600 applied to pet squirrels, the same way you might look 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:12.240 at a bunch of dogs and say, look at all 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:16.760 those rovers. Yeah. Yeah, so really we're we're It's like 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.800 we've taken it upon ourselves, and our listeners have taken 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:24.440 upon themselves themselves. Too to rebrand squirrels as skugs and 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.120 uh And I guess part of it too for me 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.960 is like realizing, like, Okay, this first grader, do I 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.880 really want to to have him grow up and be 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.800 the sort of person who refers to squirrels as scugs 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.240 and nobody around him knows what he's talking about. I 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:42.080 think people will know because of us. Possibly. Yeah. I 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.840 also have found that in response to those episodes, I've 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:49.359 actually grown um more affectionate for the squirrels that feeded 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.160 our bird feeder. I've I've made sure to put out 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.560 water for them a lot because the bird fountain we have, 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:56.440 the birds don't really mess with it all that much, 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:01.320 but the squirrels will delicately, uh like lower themselves down 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.200 to it and drink water from it. And it's so 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.880 delightful to watch because you know, normally squirrels are just 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:10.600 scurrying about, fighting with each other, you know, looking up 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.119 for for predators, and they're just constant motion. But when 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.440 they drink the water, there's something uh something precious about them. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.120 You appreciate them more because you know more about the 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.400 violence and the predation and all that. Because it's because 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.959 you can see the shadow. Now. Yeah, it's like when 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:29.720 you when you see somebody's dark side. Uh, it's the 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.320 anti hero effect in the movies, you know, where you 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.440 suddenly by seeing the dark side, you actually care more 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.000 about them. I should also say that our bird feed 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.040 are eventually attracted a rat and I got to see 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:43.440 or I got to It's not not like it's a 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.440 special treat. But I witnessed a scuffle between a squirrel 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.000 and a rat. Who won, Oh the squirrel. The squirrel 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:51.640 drove the rat away, And I think part of that 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.320 just comes down to like squirrel nature versus rat nature. 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.520 Like the rat is gonna obviously gonna be A'm not 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.280 have to find it with me. I'll come back and 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.080 eat it during the night, and the squirrel. But the 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.080 squirrel is more like, no, I'm eating this now, you 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.000 will go away from me. So you didn't put them 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:07.960 in a box and make them fight like that guy 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:12.840 who wrote into Jama No, no, no no. I think 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.840 we're still what what is cannon? Now? Are we saying cannon? 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.000 Is that that didn't actually happen, and that was some 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:22.280 fourteen year old making things up. I want to believe that, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.800 but who knows. Okay, Well, maybe we should get right 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:30.799 into some of your excellent, wonderful messages about squirrels. Robert, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.000 would you like to read us this email from Diane 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.240 to start us off here? All right, let's do it. Well, first, 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:39.800 let's call the robot over here. I forgot Carney. Carney 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:45.320 just covered in squirrels. All right, here we go, Diane writes, Hi, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.880 Robert and Joe, I just finished listening to The Bloody 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.800 Beasts Part one. You're a very interesting discussion about squirrels 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:56.000 that have been observed displaying carnivorous behavior. It brought to 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.240 mind an incident I witnessed in the summer of two 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.680 thousand four. I was on an archaeological excavation in the 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.279 Orkney Islands and Archipelago between Scotland and Norway. At the moment, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.560 I can't recall which island my fellow archaeologist and I 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.400 were on, but I think it was Papa Westry. As 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.760 we were walking up a hill looking towards the sea, 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.680 we saw a sheep nibbling on the flipper of a 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.920 dead seal. What they washed up on the shore a 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.880 bit odd, I grant you, but animals that live in 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.000 environments that offer minimal resources such as many of the 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.599 islands that make up the Orkneys, will find ways to 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.800 supplement whatever their diet is lacking. I'm certain the sheep 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.560 will never adapt to actually heading out to sea to 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.360 hunt for a seal meal, but they have no qualms 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.680 about eating those unfortunate enough to have died of other causes. 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.920 I'm not sure what the meat eating squirrels are compensating for, 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.760 but I look forward to hearing a part two. Thank 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.640 you for consistently informative and entertaining shows, Dr Diane, And 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.120 then she includes her last name, which we tend to 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.560 edit out of the show, but I include that just 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.400 because she's a doctor. It's worth noting. Yeah, I love 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:04.160 the story about the opportunistic carnivory of of sheep, but 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.479 it doesn't make me wonder. Okay, so we believe that 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:13.160 whales came from a former terrestrial tetrapod mammal that slowly 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:15.679 over time adapted itself to a more and more aquatic 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:20.280 lifestyle until until they just became fully water dwelling organisms. 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.600 Could sheep do the same thing? And what would the 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.800 cetacean equivalence of future sheep descendants be. What also makes 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.520 me think back to our episode on on Cambrian life 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.640 forms and getting into the idea of essentially the invention 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:41.279 of predation. The the and that I put invention in 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.640 quotation marks here because obviously simple organisms are not consciously 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:51.480 inventing anything, but a trend emerges where one organism is 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:55.000 simply consuming another. Yeah, and this is a hypothesis about 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.320 what caused what's known as the Cambrian explosion. And there 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.440 are some people who I think dispute to what extent 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.520 it actually should be considered an explosion or not. But basically, 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.320 during the Cambrian period, about five million years ago, we 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.960 suddenly see this proliferation speciation events, many different animal body 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.680 forms arising from previously out of you know, not much. 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.040 So where does all of this sudden animal diversity come from? 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.280 One hypothesis is, well, it was the introduction of predation 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.160 that suddenly set off these evolutionary arms races and drove 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:30.040 animals to evolve defenses in the different kinds of defenses 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:34.880 they evolved, or predation tactics they evolved, Uh, gave rise 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:37.600 to all this diversity of life. Hey, and speaking of 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.560 Cambrian life forms, our store has a new T shirt 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.600 slash sticker slash wherever you want to put this image. Uh, 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:47.720 it's our logo. Uh. You know that abstract symbol that 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:52.040 we have surrounded by Cambrian life forms in some agency. Robert, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.640 I love your dedication to plugging merch and that that 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.160 is right. Remember that we've got merch. If you've got 0:07:58.160 --> 0:07:59.760 money and you want to spend it on some of 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:01.960 our org go go merch up, go to our store. 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.120 It's fun stuff. We wouldn't but we would not have 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:05.920 it in the store if if we didn't think it 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.120 was fun. Okay, here's another message we got. This one 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.520 is from our listener, Victoria. Victoria rights, Hi, Robert and Joe. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.600 One of my first jobs, about fifteen years ago, was 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:19.960 as an animal care attendant at the Toronto Wildlife Center, 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:24.440 a nonprofit organization that treats and rehabilitates sick and injured wildlife. 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.400 I learned a healthy fear of squirrels while I was there. 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.960 Whenever we were handling squirrels, we would wear thick leather gloves, 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.839 often layered over chain mail gloves. I once got bit 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.560 through the gloves. Thankfully, they did their job pretty well, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.439 but I could still sometimes feel the bite years later, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.480 I wasn't there for this particular incident, and so my 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.400 second hand memory of the story may be exaggerated, but 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.280 I don't think so. But I remember a story of 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.880 a time when a sparrow got loose in the room 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.400 where the squirrels cages were. The staff member working in 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.480 their grabbed a net to recapture the loose bird, but 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.320 before they were able to catch the fugitive, it landed 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.480 on the outside of a squirrel cage. The squirrel inside 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.560 managed to grab the sparrow through the cage bars and 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:13.520 eat its face. Another interesting observation about unexpected carnivores from 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.040 that job. At one point we noticed that all of 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.560 the edmun staff at the organization were vegetarian or vegan, 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.840 while all of the animal care staff were meat eaters. 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.079 The prevailing theory is that when you work closely with 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.000 the animals, you realize that they'd eat you if they 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.600 had a chance, so you don't feel bad about eating 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:35.240 their brethren. Looking forward to your next episode, Victoria, well 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.120 that's a wonderful story. I mean, it does also make 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:41.319 me think back to some of the the differences between 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.880 wild squirrels and squirrels and captivity. So conceivably, and I'm 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:47.720 kind of reading into I have no idea how long 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.520 these squirrels had been in uh, in their cages, but 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:54.520 if they had been deprived of any you know, natural 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.600 ways to take in certain nutrients, they may have been 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.640 essentially starved for them. So of wish you would talk 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.120 into a bird face that is so metal it ate 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:08.240 the bird's face. Well, you know, we're attached to faces 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.960 as as humans, but we have to kind of strip 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:15.760 away our our our human complications here and realize the 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.600 face is delicious. Yeah, yeah, all right, here's another one. 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.320 This one comes to us from Nathan. Nathan writes and says, 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:24.400 love the show, guys, keep up the great work. I'm 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.440 a local pharmacist here in Atlanta and had to show 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.560 you the squirrel video I took at my house in 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.959 Grant Park. My favorite episodes are the Squirrel double part 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.840 and the two thousand one episode. Also really like the 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.240 salamander interview. Since I'm a biology lover, uh, feel free 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.439 to hit me up if you have any drug questions. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.600 Thanks Nate. And then Nate attaches a video that appears 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.439 to be a squirrel going to town on a barbecue 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.079 rib bone. Now one thing that's true. I think there 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:52.880 was a blog for a while that was just like 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:57.360 Bones of Atlanta that was like just images discarded bones 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.600 of discarded barbecue bones on the sidewalk. So I mean, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.440 there's good barbecue restaurants here, so people often will walk 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.040 around with a clamshell full of barbecue and just throw 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.480 the bones down. Well, let's see Grant Park. Which which 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.080 barbecue restaurant would it have been? I don't know, but 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.679 uh no, I don't know the answer. But they're they're like, 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.000 there's barbecue restaurants near you know, my walking the dog 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.240 can sometimes be perilous because like there's just barbecue rib 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.680 bones and chicken bones and stuff like that hanging out. 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.079 And this appears to be a video of a squirrel 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.480 that got its hands on a rib bone and it's 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.640 just gnawing like there's no tomorrow. This is This reminds 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.040 me again of what we're talking about with squirrels eating 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.760 the flesh of road kill and the artificial, uh nature 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:41.920 of that situation. This is a very This is a 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.439 similar situation like due to human civilization, we not only 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.760 have dead animals killed in the road, we also have 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.200 lots of roadside bones with flesh still hanging off the 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.839 bone and some delicious you know, red sauce as well. Okay, 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.360 next message. This is actually one of a genre of 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:02.440 messages that we got from listeners who wanted to correct 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.400 something I said. So I said, uh, squirrels are now 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.199 found pretty much everywhere except Antarctica. And some of our 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:14.400 New Zealander listeners disagreed, they said. For example, Liam writes 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.440 in saying I love your show so much and all 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.240 the shows on the How Stuff Works Network, but I 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.000 absolutely had to let you know that there are no 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.199 squirrels here in little old New Zealand, and I myself 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:27.320 have never seen one. So jealous you see them every day. 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.400 Keep up the great work, and thanks for giving me 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.800 great podcast to fall asleep to every night. I hope 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:36.920 you did not fall asleep during the squirrel Castration myth episode. Uh, 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.280 because man, what kind of dreams would that produce? Oh? 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.120 Now here's a question for everybody. If there are no 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.280 squirrels in New Zealand, that also means there are no 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.680 squirrels in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.560 Oh no, but I'm trying to think back. I recently 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.679 reread The Hobbit with my son. I can't remember if 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.520 Tolkien ever mentioned squirrels, Like there are a lot of 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:02.200 scenes of you know, our characters traveling through woodland areas. 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.840 I'm thinking surely he mentioned squirrels at some point or another. 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.839 Surely he did. I'd love to hear from anyone out 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.880 there who can who can answer that question for me? 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.640 And if there are no, then what does that mean 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:16.280 for those movies? Don't we need to go back in 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.640 like the next big wave of c g I that 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:20.520 is applied to those films that've got to add some 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.960 c g I squirrels to make it right. What is 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:29.560 the Elfish word for squirrel? Scooky doo or something. Probably 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:35.040 school Doc should take a break, Robert, let's do. Let's 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.040 take a quick break, and we'll come back with more 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:42.800 squirrel emails. That's all this episode is going to be. Alright, 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.640 We're back, Okay. We got an amazing message, a couple 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.520 of messages from our listener Bevy uh Betty. Betty really 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.440 brought it. So she writes, Hi, guys, I'm writing with 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:55.920 some thoughts about your episode on squirrels. However, let me 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:57.800 start off by saying I'm a huge fan of your show. 0:13:57.840 --> 0:13:59.800 I listened to an absolutely adore a whole bunch of 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.880 pod casts in the house stuff Works family, but you 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.280 guys are definitely one of my faves. All thank you. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.520 That's some high praise because the house stuff Works network 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.280 has so many wonderful shows. Well, thank you, Betty, Betty Rights. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.080 I volunteer at a wildlife shelter for about eight hours 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.000 a week and right now in the Pacific Northwest at least, 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.920 it is the height of baby season for Eastern gray 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.440 and Douglas squirrels. In fact, now that our baby possums 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.480 are all grown up, our nursery is currently exclusively filled 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.640 with baby squirrels and one chip month, most of the 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.360 babies ended up with us because they were orphaned, though 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:33.960 in some unfortunate cases they were brought in by well 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.760 meaning folks who didn't realize the parents were likely just 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.160 off gathering food. Yeah, this is a common Uh. This 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.960 is a common thing that comes up with with wildlife 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.040 rescue groups. Is that a lot of times you people 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.120 think they're doing the right thing by bringing the animal in, 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.440 while in reality they should have perhaps just waited for 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.600 the the the parent to to do its thing. Yeah, 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.000 so I guess don't do that. Uh so. Picking up 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.960 with Betty's message, I have some theory about why squirrels 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.200 are sometimes mistakenly thought to be castrated, although the fact 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.560 that their testicles only descenduring mating season is probably a 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.760 larger factor in the myth than what's contained in my hypotheses. However, 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.280 the following may help outline some contributing factors that can 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.120 help explain why some hunters claim to have observed fresh 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:22.479 castration wounds on juvenile males. Basically, I have four ideas, 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.960 which are as follows man four ideas about squirrel castration. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:30.240 This is rich number one, at least in juveniles. The 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.960 anuses of both sexes don't really look like anuses. Instead, 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.560 they look like small red dots and are located directly 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.880 beneath the genitals, right near where one might expect the 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.800 testicles to be. Though it would be a strange mistake 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.600 to make, I suppose it would be possible that the 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.400 untrained eye could mistake the anus for a small scab 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:55.200 resulting from a recent castration, especially if you were already 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.200 expecting to find such a wound. The fact that the 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:02.760 alleged castration wounds have and described as being remarkably cleanly cut. 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:07.280 Makes it even more likely that the surprisingly unanosy appearance 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.360 of the anus could be misinterpreted as the remains of 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.320 a juvenile's testicles. That sounds reasonable, I'd say, uh, point 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.800 number one already a home run. Number two. Why am 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.720 I so intimately acquainted with the appearance of squirrel butts, 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.120 you might ask, Well, when caring for baby squirrels, you 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.600 have to be sure to regularly stimulate each baby's anus 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.600 slash genitals in order to help them poop slash p 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.680 We typically do this using a wet cotton ball to 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.600 gently wipe the squirrels bellies, but in the wild the 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.760 mother uses her tongue to achieve the same result. In fact, 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.440 it's even possible, although probably a bit of a stretch, 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:47.120 that some misinterpreted castration wounds were the result of accidental 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.240 biting on the mother's part. This makes sense as well. 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.000 This is a solid there. And both of these really 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.600 drive home the fact that if you are watching any 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.960 wild animal, or even a domestic animal, and you are 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:03.960 just expecting very anthropomorphic or sort of beatrics Potter story 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.720 book um behavior, you're going to be disappointed because these 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:11.480 are animals, and they're going to behave as such. They're 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.119 then they're not going to behave necessarily like you expect 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:18.800 them too. Well. Also like charging animal behaviors with associations 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.280 to human taboos, because like the idea of a mother 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.560 licking that their offsprings anus, that that's like so weird 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.120 in the human context that you see an animal doing 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.360 that and you think like there must be something sinister 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.800 going on. Yeah, yeah, indeed. Um, speaking of which, I'm 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.359 definitely hoping that we get to do a Thanksgiving episode 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.320 on poop eating and animals, because this is another example 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:45.800 of something that is certainly a taboo and human circles, 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:50.480 but there's some wonderful examples from the animal world in 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.159 which it is regularly practiced and is a part of 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.040 being a healthy young member of that species. We already 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.200 smash the cuteness of squirrels into oblivion. We're about to 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.399 take bunnies from you as well. No, no, no, I 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.760 take that back. Squirrels are still cute. They're still cute, 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.439 even though they sometimes the flesh and brains and whatever. Alright, 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.440 So back to Bevy's email number three point number three. 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.600 In the episode, I believe that you expressed doubt at 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.639 the theory that some of the misinterpreted wounds were the 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.399 result of other baby squirrels trying to suckle on the 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:28.439 mail's mistaking their privates for mother's nipples. It's possible that 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.000 I made that doubt up, though, no. I That was 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.640 what one one author wrote into jama when they were 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.440 having the big late nineteenth century squirrel castration debate. One 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:41.800 author wrote in with this as a hypothesis, and I 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:43.880 was trying I couldn't quite tell if the person who 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.080 wrote this was joking, because it sounded like it might 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.000 be a joke, but he was saying, like, well, maybe 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.320 it's other squirrels in the nest trying to get nutrition 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.600 and mistaking well, you know, so here picking up with 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.239 Bebby's email. It's possible that I made this doubt up, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.760 though I was trying to clean up some particularly rank 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.800 possum poop while I was listening to the episode, so 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.639 I was understandably a bit distracted. However, I think that 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.840 it's actually a valid theory to consider. Although I haven't 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:13.720 observed it myself, I've heard from other volunteers at the 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.400 shelter that it's relatively common for possum infants to try 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.359 to suckle on each other if they have no mother present. 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.760 I've never heard or seen of this behavior in baby squirrels, 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:27.520 but it's definitely a possibility. Well that's interesting, so maybe 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.040 that that writer was not joking. Number four. My final 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.240 note regarding squirrel castration is that, at least in juveniles, 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:38.280 male and female squirrels look very similar. Interestingly to me 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.160 at least, though maybe I'm just weird. This does not 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.600 mean that a male's penis is hard to spot, but 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.000 actually the reverse females instead look a bit like they 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.920 have penises. I'm not quite sure why that is, since 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.000 it seems less likely that females would have volvas that 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:55.760 protrude from the body than it would be for males 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.200 to have penises that stayed close to the body. Well, 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.639 it wouldn't be that crazy. I mean, I think we've 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:02.639 talked about hyenas on this show before, and I have 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:05.800 a similar situation, with female hyenas being the larger of 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.760 the species and having some similar characteristics with their their 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:12.320 sex organs. Yeah uh so, she continues, I don't know 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:16.200 if the sexes remain difficult to differentiate once they reach adulthood. 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.480 Since adult squirrels are vicious little monsters whose butts I 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.400 luckily don't have to deal with on a regular basis. 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.280 But if they do, then in the very specific case 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:29.000 of Hunter kills a male squirrel with descended testicles and 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.760 then compares it side by side with a female, it 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.080 might be conceivable to maybe think that the female was 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:38.760 a male without testicles. Combine this with the possibility of 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:41.960 misinterpreting the appearance of the anus, and you've got yourself 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.440 an urban legend in the making. I apologize for such 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.040 a long email, but your episode was absolutely fascinating and 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.200 completely sparked my interest. Keep up the good work, Bevy. 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.600 Oh and then Betty also shared some photos from the 0:20:55.600 --> 0:21:00.000 shelter with us, and then another follow up from Bevy quote, 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.119 I have an update on my email. I asked some 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.960 of my fellow volunteers about squirrels suckling on each other, 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:07.600 and it turns out it's quite common. In fact, we 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.320 had to split a group of siblings up yesterday for 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.080 that very reason. Well, I don't think the suckling would 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:15.920 create raised areas on the skin, it could definitely explain 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.840 scabs and other injuries. On the genitals of juveniles. And 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:25.360 that concludes Bevy's massive dissertation on squirrel anuses and genitals. Uh, 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:27.439 that's great, That's exactly the kind of field report we 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:30.600 were looking for. This was an awesome listener, Male Bevy, 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.959 Thank you so much. Now I just have to go 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.560 back to our discussion of of barbecue bones for a second. 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.399 And isn't it interesting that you know that that some 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:41.880 humans might be thinking, Oh, I'm so creeped out because 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.199 squirrels are actually eating meat. We the species that have 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:50.600 streets literally littered with the bones of the creatures that 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.879