The Squirrel Thread

[solarflere]

How can you not love squirrels? :p They've got to be the most entertaining rodent on earth. Kangaroos, however, aren't rodents, so you don't have to appologize to anyone for not disliking them. ;)
Kangaroos are in fact from a rodent family, but unlike squarels, they do not carry rabies nor do they bite people.

[Roman Legion]

Kangaroos are in fact from a rodent family, but unlike squarels, they do not carry rabies nor do they bite people.
Rodents are a different order than marsupials, in the mammal class. All rodents mature in the womb, connected to their mother by a placenta. Kangaroos, like all other marsupials, don't have placentas; they're pretty much born as embryos, having to climb into their mother's pouch to finish developing. Thus, no relation, other than being mammals.

There's nothing special about squirrels and rabies. A lot of other, more potentially vicious mammals are more likely to carry the disease. Are rabid squirrels a problem in... Brooklyn...? Up here in New England, the critters are everywhere, but I've never heard of any outbreaks of rabid squirrels.

--Romey

[solarflere]

Rodents are a different order than marsupials, in the mammal class. All rodents mature in the womb, connected to their mother by a placenta. Kangaroos, like all other marsupials, don't have placentas; they're pretty much born as embryos, having to climb into their mother's pouch to finish developing. Thus, no relation, other than being mammals.

There's nothing special about squirrels and rabies. A lot of other, more potentially vicious mammals are more likely to carry the disease. Are rabid squirrels a problem in... Brooklyn...? Up here in New England, the critters are everywhere, but I've never heard of any outbreaks of rabid squirrels.

--Romey See in Europe, squarels are orange (yes Orange), and quite rare to find, they live only in the woods. Now those are biutiful creatures. But Brooklyn squarels, look more like rats besides the fluffy tail. There is nohing pretty about them.

[Roman Legion]

Thought I'd start up a new thread, so as not to derail Icky Creatures (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=148398). :D

What are your thoughts on squirrels? Tree squirrels, ground squirrels, and any other variety will do! What species live in your area? Like 'em? Hate 'em? Why?

Here, on the very border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, we've got grey squirrels and chipmunks. The chipmunks typically stick to more thickly wooded areas, but the greys can be found just about anywhere there at least a few trees. I'd estimate we have 4 to 6 grey squirrels per house, or roughly 16 to 24 per acre, even in the suburbs. Some consider them pests, since they raid bird feeders and pester cats, while others love them because... they raid bird feeders and pester cats. :D I'm of the latter. Really, they're fun to watch.


See in Europe, squarels are orange (yes Orange), and quite rare to find, they live only in the woods. Now those are biutiful creatures. But Brooklyn squarels, look more like rats besides the fluffy tail. There is nohing pretty about them.
New England, not England, sorry. :sweat:

The orange colored squirrels of Europe would be the red squirrels, which I believe are actually endangered. I know there are american red squirrels, but I'm not sure if they're native or not... I'll have to look that up.

--Romey

[Fone Bone]

Squirrels are up on the awesome chart right below monkeys.

[Beguiled]

I love squirrels! We have gray squirrels in our neighborhood. It's so much fun to watch them play! Just outside the office we have a birch tree and lately I've been watching them because they always climb to the smallest branches and it's amazing because they never fall! :sweat: :anime: Sometimes I see running up our redwood tree too. They're fun to watch.

[G. Wen]

I love squirrels! So cute! In Nor Cal, there are a lot of tree squirrels, and a few ground squirrels. Maybe there are a lot of ground squirrels, only that I don't see them because they're in the ground. We have some red squirrels and some silver ones with floppy tails as well. In Iowa, I saw a lot more squirrels, and one chipmunk (the only time I ever saw a chipmunk).

[Nightflower]

I lurve squirrels! Although at one point, I would like to try squirrel fishing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_fishing)

My boyfriend calls them parabola rats.

[solarflere]

Squirrel fishing?...... Is that a catch and release stream?:p I actualy would like to try that. Sounds dificult.

[sun]

They steal food from other animals, any kind of food they can get their paws on...You have a vegetable garden..well, they will get to it.
,,,I once put out some food for the birds in our neighborhood, guess who ate it all...not the birds...They don't pay no taxes, they cause a huge amount of electrical outages, they go where ever they like,,they don't need no winter coats, they are too smart for their own selves,and they are ugly, much more ugly than spiders and that is the truth... :evil: So there.

[Kurtman]

I'm a fan of Twiggy The Water-skiing squirrel.
http://www.scarysquirrel.com/special/twiggy/
I saw her at some county fair in Nebraska once.

[G1Ravage]

Are rabid squirrels a problem in... Brooklyn...? Up here in New England, the critters are everywhere, but I've never heard of any outbreaks of rabid squirrels.

--Romey
We have black squirrels here. They're running the white squirrels out of town.

[G1Ravage]

See in Europe, squarels are orange (yes Orange), and quite rare to find, they live only in the woods. Now those are biutiful creatures. But Brooklyn squarels, look more like rats besides the fluffy tail. There is nohing pretty about them.
Nah. All the squirrels in New York City are rather cute. And a lot of them are tame. If you know the "squirrel call", they'll come right over to you and see if you'll give them any food.

I've got a squirrel living right outside my living room window in a nest he or built on a high tree branch. I've named him Chester.

[Aquadementia]

They're gobbling up my nuts.

Not that I care.
I have a black Walnut tree that is squirrel central, but I don't care much for Black Walnuts. It produces so much though that I can still get a good sized bucket of nuts even with all the squirrel snatching.
I have an English Walnut tree too, which is a better nut in my opinion, but it doesn't produce enough to worry about.

So I like them, we have common interests.
They steal food from other animals, any kind of food they can get their paws on...You have a vegetable garden..well, they will get to it.
Squirrels are bad at the bird feeder. Most people around here have the kind with the big dome hanging over the top.
But there are plenty that have squirrel feeders too. I guess it's fun to see them work for their food.

As far as gardens go though, it's the rabbits that cause total devastation.



We have black squirrels here. They're running the white squirrels out of town.
I've never seen a white one around here.
It's interesting that around here it was almost exclusively grey squirrels with the occasional red one. Then some black squirrels started showing up, and I didn't even know there was such a thing. Now we've got quite a few around.
I wonder if it's a more dominant hair color because their numbers shot up sharply, then stabilized.

[The Dork Knight]

It's about time we had a squirrel thread here at Toon Zone. That's all I wanted to say.

[Classic Speedy]

I want a OS X version of Squirrel Kombat, consarn it!

[Narfpinky]

Ah, yes, I love 'em too.
I like to watch them scurry about in the back yard.
There was a time, while being very careful and wearing sufficient gloves, I used to have a few squirrels eat out of my hand, as well as sit in my hand and eat.
Here in our area of Illinois we have grey squirrels and fox-coat(brown-tan) squirrels.

[solarflere]

I've got a squirrel living right outside my living room window in a nest he or built on a high tree branch. I've named him Chester. LOL, how old are you? do you name the flys around your window too;)? Sorry that was just too funny to pass up, don't take this offensively:).