A Childhood Dream....

I was talking to my 7-year old neighbor last week, and he said that he wished he could have a pet squirrel. Boy oh boy, did I know what he was talking about! As a kid I always wanted a pet squirrel (or a pet lamb, to be honest) and couldn't understand why I couldn't have one. Our family had dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, the ubiquitous, short-lived goldfish; why not a squirrel?

As an adult I realize why I can't have a grey squirrel as a pet and I also realize that it's illegal to have one--but I still find them fascinating, and undeniably cute! I decided to indulge this fascination with some quick research while waiting to go to a meeting the other day. Here's what I found about Eastern Grey Squirrels:

• The grey squirrel's front teeth continue to grow throughout it's life, so they can never be worn away by the animal's continual gnawing.


• Grey squirrles will often share their nests in winter in order to stay warmer, but don't share nests during the warmer summer months.


• Grey squirrles generally don't cache nuts where they are found. Instead, the squirrel carries the food to a new spot and buries it in a hole. It digs the hole with its front feet, then tamps down the earth with front and back feet, as well ast with the nose sometimes!


• About 85 percent of the cached nuts may be recovered. Scientists conducting an experiment buried nuts and found that those were recovered by the squirrels at about the same rate as nuts the squirrels buried themselves. From this, the scientists concluded that memory is not involved in nut recovery.


• The grey squirrel's tail is used primarily for balance in trees, but also serves as a sunshade, an umbrella, a blanket, and a rudder when swimming. Additionally, it provides lift when the squirrel leaps from branch to branch within a tree and acts like a parachute to slow descent if the squirrel falls.


• This squirrel can smell nuts buried under a foot of snow. When the snow is deep squirrels will tunnel under it to get closer to the scent.


• The Eastern Gray Squirrel eats a lot of nuts, but also feeds on feeds maple buds, bark, and samaras (the 'helicopter' seeds), apples, fungi, and even the occasional insect.


• There are albino colonies in Olney, Illinois; Trenton, New Jersey; and Greenwood, South Carolina.

Have you seen grey squirrels or any other wildlife in South Burlington lately? If so, I'd love to hear about it! Simply comment on this posting to tell me about what you've seen in South Burlington, and where. I want to hear about squirrels, or warblers, or toads...whatever you've seen! Check out my first post, called "Let the Fun Begin" for more info! And thanks to all of you who have posted information in the past--keep it coming!!