Saturday, June 18, 2022

Mobile, Alabama: Cheeky Squirrels

Looky Lou squirrel at my window. Mobile, Alabama. December 2021. Credit: Mzuriana.
Looky Lou squirrel at my window. Mobile, Alabama. December 2021. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

Mobile squirrels think they are something. 

Not only are Mobile squirrels plentiful, they are kinda cocky, practically dashing across the sidewalk right in front of you in a show of no-fucks-given for your hominid-archical bullshit. 

Researchers have classified four personality characteristics of squirrels that vary among individual squirrels: 

  1. Boldness
  2. Aggressiveness
  3. Activity level
  4. Sociability

The researchers devised various tests to quantify where individual squirrels fell on a continuum of the traits. Any of us can conduct one of the tests

In the third test, researchers quietly and slowly approached individuals in the wild to see how long it took for them to run away. This is a common way to determine an individual's shyness. [I will assume 'shyness' relates to the characteristic of 'boldness.']

As a group, I'd classify Mobilian squirrels to the far right end of the continuum of bold, along with a high activity level.

I lost a half hour of my life while researching for this post, which I shall never recoup, by watching the Backyard Squirrel Maze Ninja Course.  It gave me many utils of pleasure, so it was time well misspent:



PBS' Nature series broadcast a one-hour documentary on squirrels in 2018. You can watch it in its entirety if you've got a Passport account. If you don't have a Passport, you can view several engaging snippets here


In memorium

Recently, while on a neighborhood walk, I spied a dead squirrel. Laid out on a raised funereal dais created by a live oak's trunk arms that had surfaced from the loamy depths. Medium-size black ants, those avid morticians, bustled about the remains, performing their organic rituals. 

I admit to a fascination with the squirrel's tiny lower jaw and teeth, a wishbone of delicate architecture. It is maddening that I cannot capture a photo in which both rows of the teeth are equally defined, despite numerous attempts. 

Here's the best of a poor lot: 

Lower jaw of dead squirrel. Mobile, Alabama. June 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.
Lower jaw of dead squirrel. Mobile, Alabama. June 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

I have added the squirrel's jaw and its full corpus to my Carcass Collection here.


Related squirrel posts

2011: Louisiana Road Trip 2011, Part 1: Driving Day in Driving Rain (squirrels skittering)

2014: Lafayette, Louisiana: Sounds From My Place (squirrels barreling)

2015: Washington, Louisiana: Squirrel Cook-Off (Spoiler alert: It's not the squirrels doing the cooking)

2019: Tucson, Arizona: Temporary Home #2 (gregarious squirrels)


Oi. 

Another 20 minutes of the finite resource which is my life - gone. Here. I don't begrudge the expenditure, however.

 

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