Nature & Environment

'Killer squirrels' observed hunting down and eating other animals

By T.K. Randall
December 18, 2024 ·  8 comments

He might look cute, but he has a dark side... Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 AskALotl When it comes to squirrels, most people will imagine a shy, tree-dwelling mammal with a big bushy tail that spends most of its time feeding on nuts, seeds and berries.

But this isn't the whole picture - as evidenced recently by researchers from the University of Wisconsin who discovered that some ground-dwelling squirrels in California had not only started eating meat, but had even developed a knack for hunting down and killing small animals to acquire it.

Normally, squirrels have a mostly vegetarian diet but are known to occasionally eat eggs, hatchlings or small juvenile animals if they happen to come across an opportunity to get access to them.

This is the first time, however, that they've been seen actively hunting for prey.

"This is incredibly exciting, because this is the first time for this species that we've documented active hunting from start to finish," said study lead author Dr Jennifer Smith."Once we saw it happening, it continued to happen again and again throughout the summer."

The squirrels' hunting behavior - which primarily saw them hunt, kill and eat small voles - was observed on 74 occasions over a period of 18 days and involved 27 different individuals.

It also happened to coincide with a particularly big increase in vole numbers.

"It seems that these squirrels are just opportunistic," said Smith.

"The super abundance of voles during this particular summer really opened up the novel dietary niche for them."

Source: The Guardian | Comments (8)

Tags: Squirrel