What is this instinct squirrels have, that leads them to run across
one's path?
        If you come up on them at speed, they'll notice you and dart away -
but ofttimes they dart directly across your path. 
        All I can figure is that they have some notion of a "safe tree" that
they always head directly for at any sign of danger. Some sort of weird 
homing mechanism or something. 
        One specific tree, I mean - I've seen squirrels sitting in the shadow 
of perfectly good trees, only to take off for some other random tree when 
I come by.
        A Squirrels stupid, or what?

59 responses total.

That should be, "Are squirrels stupid".

   This is on your bike, right?  I ask because whenever I've gotten
near them in a car, they generally scurry about and get away from me
as fast as they can.  Perhaps with a bike, becuase of the noise, its
different?

 
On the same subject, why do Kildeer run in front of your car and "navigate"
for you around the parking lot?
 
Ken once called 'em, "Ring necked car greeters."

   They are trying to lure you away from their nests.  If you are really
close, and on foot, they will pretend to have a broken wing.

re #2 - Yeah, on a bike. But in a car, you'd be on a road, and they
might be likely to stay on the same side of the road as their tree. On 
a bike path, maybe it'd be small enough that they'd stray over it.

squirrels are stupid. They have the same type of disaster avoidance mechanism
as sheep and rabbits (run down the road in front of the car instead of cutting
off at a 90 deg. angle - probably an evolutionary adaptation to eluding bad
things that couldn
t quite outrun them but could corner well).

Other towns have smarter squirrels and dumber pigeons ( more squashed pigeons
than squashed squirrels).

While out on my bike, I got tired of having the squirrels always run
across my path, no matter which way I tried to go around them.  I 
solved the problem by aiming directly at them.  They always move,
thought I care not wich way. 
(I know a person who had a squirrel run through his front wheel during
a bicycle race.  Bent his wheel, fork and 
sent him to the ground.   Quite a mess!)

Sheesh!
I never try to go around them, either - just isn't worth it.
I hope I never lose a race that way, though...

I always brake for squirrels on Geddes, particularly when driving my truck. Its
a very effective way of slowing down the tailgating scum that can't seem to
understand the 25 mph speed limit.

I always sort of mutter to myself when I'm riding my bike somewhere that 
there's a 20mph limit, and going 20mph, and people act like I'm in their 
way when they pass me.

If a infant human was crawling out into the street from the front
lawn of that infant's house, would we aim for it with the front
wheel of our bike?

And furthermore....  what are you doing out on your bike if you think
you're still in a cocoon?  Getting fresh air and enjoying nature or
out to go zoom-zoom?

Stop and say HI! to the squirrel.

... or at least kick the stupid rodent out of traffic

Sorry, Craig, I do have places to be. :)

r.e. #11.  If you want to hit a squirrel, dont aim for it.  If you
don't want to hit it, aim for it

Little kids are slower, and you can just go around them.
Or hit them if you want.
I'm often tempted, if they're being stupid.

I suppose it makes sense that they do this.  If something is going to
attack them, they are going to go directly for the squirrel. trying
to go around the squirrel probably just confuses it.

I don't think they need any help in that department, but that does make
some sense...

So, the human infant as well may become confused if I try to avoid them,
so... just in case... might as well aim directly for them.
Ahh... ok!

Go for it, Craig.  Just make sure irate parents aren't close by.

if they are... should I run them over too?  or shoot a gun at them?
or maybe throw and rock?... watch them run around to the other side
of the house and run after them because it's funny?

Just stay home, Craig.

It would seem more prudent that the animal killers stay home.

I think it would be a good idea for you *and* any animal killers to 
stay home. 

Are you not the indirect killer of many animals?

Not to my way of thinking. No more than you, I'll wager.

Possibly.

Another squirrel question: Why to people new in town (whether college 
freshmen or just visiting) seem so fascinated with the squirrel 
population? I've been other places that had plenty of squirrels, but
only here can you walk through the center of town and find a few
people (on the diag) squirrel watching very intently.

I like to watch squirrels -- although I only do so in passing.  Out in the
Canadian prairies, one just does not have the in-town wildlife that one
sees in Michigan.  (There are a few areas that have Richardson's Ground
Squirrels, generally (improperly) referred to as "gophers," but they
are nowhere near as interesting as the variant local to Ann Arbor.)

I think that it is because the Diag squirrel population is so friendly.  You
can get quite close before they run off.  The squirrels at EMU are also very
friendly.  Once when we went over to visit my mom (see worked at the library)
one actually came up and put its little front paws on Staci's knees.  She was
about 1.5-2 and absolutely fasinated by the little thing.  I wish that I had
had a camera with me, it was adorable.  When the squirrel discovered that
Staci, although cute and friendly, didn't have any food it meandered off to
someone else, thus breaking Staci's heart (she thought that it wanted to come
and live with her).  She has been fasinated by them since.  I often get yelled
at to come and look out the window cause there is a squirrel in the tree, on 
the garage, on the porch, in the yard, etc.

She has also taken to following the skunk that lives under the front porch.
When I told her not to follow it under the porch she told me "but mom, its a
nice skunk and won't spray me."  Not that she fully understands what I mean by
the skunk spraying her.  She thinks that it is just another type of cat that
roams around.

  I used to live with a "pet" skunk.  Once you get to know them, you can
find out that they are really nasty animals.

My dad had a pet skunk when he was a kid.  Still swears to this day that it was
the best pet he ever had.  Sort of like the best of both cats and dogs without
their individual bad points.  The best way to have a skunk as a pet is to have
it descented, buy if you raise it from a kit you don't really have a problem
with it.  A skunk won't spray its home or family.

The skunks that we have around here don't spray very often, but they leak. You
can step out on the front porch and tell when one has walked through the garden
or checked out the garbage. The dog knows it too and, therefore, doesn't go out
at night without being on the leash. The skunk density in this neighborhood is
not quite as high as the dog density. When I walk the dog at night (spring and
summer) I almost always run across neighbors walking their dogs. The SOP is to
stop and exchange skunk reports while the dogs sniff each other's butts.

   Quaint...  There are plenty of skunks in the south of Ann Arbor, too.
If skunk pelts were worth much...
   (I don't *quite8 think that, but gods; a really uppity skunk smells
not just like skunk, but more like burning rubber bands...)

A *kit*?!

(Sure -- just like one raises "Sea Monkeys" from a kit. ;)

The odor of skunk comes from a set of chemicals called Mercaptans.
 
(Of course, I only know about this because mercaptans can be formed in
 beer exposed to UV light.)
 

Skunks do not make good pets. I had one. He was wonderful, great temperament,
affectionate, and smart. But he smelled very gamey and though he was 
litter-trained, the litter had to be changed every time he used it. He dug
up all my plants. He had to be caged when not supervised, and he didn't like
that. Skunks imprint on their main caretakers and are unfriendly to others.

Heh...gamey...I liike that turn of phrase.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss