A question about squirrels

[Beerman1963]

My wife informs me the other day that a squirrel that lives in one of our trees was eating a baby bird.:eek: I thought about this and told her she must be mistaken. Squirrels are fuzzy little creatures that eat nuts and seeds and peanuts no, she says that she looked very closely and it was a baby bird that it was devouring. So my question is has anyone else ever hears/seen this before and is there a possible explanation? rabies, insanity etc.:dubious: let me know as she now has a deep seated hatred of squirelldom.

[mischievous]

I know next to nothing about squirrels, but many other rodents are opportunistic carnivores. We used to bait our mouse traps with bacon or KFC leftovers, worked much better than peanut butter.

[twickster]

I’m going to move this from MPSIMS to GQ, where all my biology questions get answered promptly.

[Johnny_L.A]

Squirrel - Wikipedia (Footnotes removed.)

Feeding

Unlike rabbits or deer, squirrels cannot digest cellulose and must rely on foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, and fat. In temperate regions early spring is the hardest time of year for squirrels, since buried nuts begin to sprout and are no longer available for the squirrel to eat, and new food sources have not become available yet. During these times squirrels rely heavily on the buds of trees. Squirrels’ diet consists primarily of a wide variety of plant food, including nuts, seeds, conifer cones, fruits, fungi and green vegetation. However some squirrels also consume meat, especially when faced with hunger. Squirrels have been known to eat insects, eggs, small birds, young snakes and smaller rodents. Indeed, some tropical species have shifted almost entirely to a diet of insects.

Predatory behavior by various species of ground squirrels, particularly the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, has been noted. Bailey, for example, observed a thirteen-lined ground squirrel preying upon a young chicken. Wistrand reported seeing this same species eating a freshly killed snake. Whitaker examined the stomachs of 139 thirteen-lined ground squirrels, and found bird flesh in four of the specimens and the remains of a short-tailed shrew in one; Bradley, examining white-tailed antelope squirrels’ stomachs, found at least 10% of his 609 specimens’ stomachs contained some type of vertebrate—mostly lizards and rodents. Morgart (1985) observed a white-tailed antelope squirrel capturing and eating a silky pocket mouse.

Lots of squirrels around here. And I have a single-shot rifle that will take .22 Shorts. (Wouldn’t want to disturb the neighbours.) Good thing for the squirrels I have no clue, aside from cleaning fish and crabs, how to dress an animal.

[Olentzero]

Edited: beaten to the punch by Johnny L.A. You’re not alone in bein’ freaked out… blew my mind when I found out praying mantises eat hummingbirds.

[Ostrya]

Yeah, esp red squirrels. They have high metabolic rates and can be quite aggressive, voracious little critters.

[Santos_L_Halper]

Previous thread where a poster recounts a seeing a squirrel eating baby turtles:

So...Grey Squirrels eat turtles.

[Colibri]

Yes, squirrels can be quite serious nest predators on birds. They take both eggs and nestlings. Here’s a reference on Red Squirrels as nest predators.

[jayjay]

Bullfrogs will eat baby ducklings.

Bullfrogs are known for their voracious, if indiscriminate, appetites. As tadpoles, they eat mostly algae. Adults eat just about anything they can catch and cram in their mouths, including small turtles, garter snakes, ducklings and fellow frogs.

[Beerman1963]

Wow
I never knew squirrels could be such jerks. I just always looked at the cute furry tails and oooh I am so cute give me food and assumed that they were harmless.
Thanks for the insights.

[hogarth]

A friend of mine had two hamsters. At least there used to be two hamsters until one hamster ate the other one.

[Colibri]

@Beerman1963

Wow
I never knew squirrels could be such jerks. I just always looked at the cute furry tails and oooh I am so cute give me food and assumed that they were harmless.
Thanks for the insights.

You want to hear about deer eating the heads off baby bunnies?

[Ferret_Herder]

I was going to repost my tale of observed squirrel cannibalism, but I see it’s in the previous thread linked here.

[Wile_E]

@Colibri

You want to hear about deer eating the heads off baby bunnies?

That’s the non-Disney version of Bambi.

[Sailboat]

@Wile_E

That’s the non-Disney version of Bambi.

Damnedbi

[Slithy_Tove]

@Johnny_L.A

Squirrel - Wikipedia (Footnotes removed.)

Lots of squirrels around here. And I have a single-shot rifle that will take .22 Shorts. (Wouldn’t want to disturb the neighbours.) Good thing for the squirrels I have no clue, aside from cleaning fish and crabs, how to dress an animal.

They have little glands on each side of their groin you’ll want to take out or else they taste terrible.

[Lemur866]

@Beerman1963

Wow
I never knew squirrels could be such jerks. I just always looked at the cute furry tails and oooh I am so cute give me food and assumed that they were harmless.
Thanks for the insights.

Squirrels are just rats with fancier tails.

[SunSandSuffering]

Animals eat other animals, get over it.

[KRC]

Check this link and scroll down to the “Cool Facts” section.

Cactus Wren Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

[Ike_Witt]

@Johnny_L.A

Good thing for the squirrels I have no clue, aside from cleaning fish and crabs, how to dress an animal.

I don’t know how to dress a squirrel either, but you may be able to get some ideas from The Gopher Hole Mueseum…Some of them seem quite well dressed.