By Jeremy Varner
An Eastern gray squirrel enjoying an acorn
What color are squirrels? Atlantans will say gray since just about the only squirrels you see are Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). But who cares about squirrels, right? They are just rodents — rats with fuzzy tails, right?
The desk in my office looks out a window onto the side yard and our dog-eared wood fence. The fence is a very popular squirrel path, so I get to watch these rascals run around, eat acorns, chase each other, and generally cavort at less than 10 feet away. Working from home has given me quite a squirrel education.
For starters, in addition to several tones of gray, their fur has lots of white, black, and a variety of tans and browns. I even noticed some that have a lot more browns and tans on their back forming a much larger saddle than other individuals. I wonder if that is an attractive, neutral, or repellant attribute in the squirrel dating scene. You would figure that if it were desirable, natural selection would cause it to be a more common or dominant attribute. Since it seems to be the exception, it must not be attractive to a mate.
I’ve noticed other characteristics, too: I can identify the males and females. I’ve seen at least one squirrel with a botfly larva in its fur. If you are unfamiliar with the botfly, just know it is a parasite. I do not recommend looking up pictures unless you are someone who really enjoys graphic medical videos. I saw another squirrel that had a large gash on its hip but was carrying on anyway. No idea what caused the injury but somehow the creature endured. I guess it just didn’t have another choice.
I’ve seen plenty of squirrels burying, exhuming, and eating acorns as you’d expect, but I’ve also seen them eating mushrooms and occasionally I’ll find the remains of a mushroom cap some squirrel was unable to finish. I’ve heard they’ll eat meat, as in that of baby birds, if they can get their hands on it, but I haven’t seen any do this so far.
Now, I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of squirrel lover. They’ll eat unripe fruits and vegetables from your garden, gnaw on your house, live in your attic, dig up your potted flowers, and discard shell fragments all over your porch. Nothing will make you hate a wild animal quite like finding the large green tomato that was going to ripen up in a few days and land on your sandwich lying in the yard with a few squirrel bites but otherwise ignored. So, I agree squirrels can be a nuisance.
However, they are not only a nuisance. They are usually the most common wild mammal we interact with. I love seeing deer and it’s always a newsworthy event when a family member spots a possum or racoon in the yard. But squirrels are our consistent, wild companions. And there is something cool about that. They may be sometimes annoying, but they are wild animals that have figured out how to live where we live. They are worthy of attention if only so that you know when you need to run out and defend the tomatoes.
