On my walk to work yesterday, I noticed two squirrels loudly wrestling in a tree, rolling around beating the snot out of each other (assuming that squirrels have snot). They were doing so on a branch about 20 feet off the ground. I was amazed that they could do all that rolling and wrestling without falling.
Well, they couldn't. They both fell, still locked in struggle and tussling all the way down. They hit the ground with a noticeable thud and, to my amazement, didn't miss a beat. They just kept on fighting.
This wrestling continued for a minute or two as I watched from just about ten feet away. For whatever reason, I said to the squirrels, "Okay you two, break it up."
They ignored me.
After another minute, they broke apart and one ran back up the tree with the other in hot pursuit. Having to get on to work, I walked on, assuming that they would work it out on their own.
So, what makes a squirrel that angry?
[By the way, I know of course that this chipmunk is no squirrel, but I had no squirrel photos handy.]
Friday, December 28, 2007
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6 comments:
Well, I'm just guessing Dan, but... maybe the other one tried to bite his nuts?
;^P
Well, we watched a similar squirrel fight out our back window last week and it finally culminated in several rounds of mating after about 5 minutes of fighting.
Yeah, I thought of that possibilty, too. That's the way it goes sometimes, I reckon...
Hey Dan...You're so funny. I love the beat em up story. I haven't seen a rukus like that before. Cracked up with your clip about the chipmunk photo too. Thanks for making me smile. Happy Belated Friday on that one. :)
Some of those little guys take it too far, though. At our old place, we had several tall (50 feet plus) trees overhanging a rock-lined creek, and a large population of combative squirrels.
Most days saw some sort of squirrel combat in the trees, and several times, one of the squirrels wound up falling into the creek. Usually, he'd swim to shore and bound back up the tree to continue fighting. Unfortunately, one squirrel landed on a rock instead....poor thing died just as we ran up to it.
that kind of behaviour usually goes with mating as anonymous says, certainly the squirrel fights I've seen. Were they singing as well?
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