Facts about Squirrels
Content incomplete like no sizes weight ranges etc. sourch for other information sources about the squirrel on the web. The word squirrel, first attested in 1327, comes via Anglo-Norman esquirel from the Old French escurel, the reflex of a Latin word sciurus which was itself borrowed from Greek. Squirrels have brought down the high-tech NASDAQ stock market twice and were responsible for a spate of power outages at the University of Alabama. [Till 2007] Apart from nuts and buds, squirrels have been known to eat insects, eggs, small birds, snakes and rodents. Unlike rabbits or deer, squirrels cannot digest cellulose and must rely on foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Republican Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee used his experiences eating squirrel to support his "folksy" image during the South Carolina primary, saying that "When I was in college, we used to take a popcorn popper, because that was the only thing they would let us use in the dorm, and we would fry squirrels in a popcorn popper in the dorm room." He later told Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert that squirrel constitutes "a Southern delicacy". A thirteen-lined ground squirrel was once spotted preying upon a young chicken. This behaviour has been reported more than once. Birds, especially crows, will watch a squirrel bury a nut and will dig it up as soon as the squirrel leaves. A squirrel nest is called a "drey". Squirrels use their keen sense of smell to locate buried nuts. |
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