The Squirrels are talking to each other!!!

[underpants]

No wonder W is so paranoid.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/science_animals

PARIS (AFP) - A species of squirrel uses ultrasonic frequencies to provide a warning to fellow members of its group, the first time an animal has been found to use high-frequency sound this way, a study says.

Canadian zoologists noted that in addition to making audible vocalisations in the eight kilohertz (kHz) range to other members of their community, the squirrels also made "whisper" calls to each other, which produced only faint sounds of rushing air.


Analysed closely, these calls turned out to be ultrasonic, in the 50 kHz range, placing them way beyond the hearing of humans and of predators as well.

The limit of human hearing is about 20 kHz.

[demnan]

1. That's a fat squirrel

Sure that's not the one who keeps raiding my bird feeder? And I know what they whisper, too.

"Sunflower seeds at Marsala Ct, let's go!"

[LynneSin]

2. He's so cute - why don't folks have pet squirrels?

They look like they'd make nice house pets!

[underpants]

3. Actually my former sister-in-law has one

Can't remember its name. It was injured in her yard and she took it in and cared for it. It won't leave now.

[LWolf]

4. Squirrels...the bane of my garden.

They eat plants to the ground. They steal fruit, tomatoes, and eggs. They dig all over the place. And they're hell on birdfeeders. They are master thieves.

:grr:

I had an antelope squirrel, a cute little local groundsquirrel, as a houseguest for 2 weeks a couple of years ago. My tomcat caught him, brought him in, and turned him loose. I've learned that anything the cat brings in alive stays alive; they won't hunt or catch it after they've turned it loose. I think it's supposed to be part of my training program. I'm supposed to catch the things; birds, mice, lizards, etc.

Anyway, this little guy was too fast and too smart. He hid during the day and came out to eat catfood at night. One morning, about 5am, I got up and headed to the kitchen to make coffee. As I walked past the plant stand in my atrium, he started scolding me. He was sitting about 6 feet up, in the pot that holds my big spider plant. He whisked his tail at me, scolded me roundly, and melted down the plant stand and behind the filing cabinet.

I called him "Zippy," and my students asked for daily updates on whether or not I'd caught him. They were rooting for Zippy.

I finally got him out of the house; I called my son over to the house to help. We propped open the front door. I chased him around the house, armed with a broom. The cats delightedly joined the chase; they weren't going to catch him, but couldn't stand to miss out on the fun. Finally, I was doing my "homework." My son stayed a step ahead, shoving furniture and other obstacles around as the squirrel sought shelter. Finally, after about 20 minutes of this, we managed to herd him towards the front door and freedom.

Here's what Zippy looked like:

[Crunchy Frog]

5. Speaking as someone

in the wildlife rehab business, who has handraised lots of orphaned baby squirrels, , I can tell you that as babies, they are very cute, sweet, and easy to handle. However, once they get older, their temperements are usually way to active, nervous and wild for them to be suitable for pets. They are especially unsuited to cages, and they can deliver a really wicked bite.

If you want to enjoy squirrels, I reccomend putting food out for them, or even just keeping a birdfeeder, most of which they can figure out how to break into.;-)

Squirrels around your yard can become sufficiently familiar as to be almost like pets, but they don't belong in actual captivity.

Also, if you find an orphaned baby, please get it to a rehabber and do not try to raise it yourself, as they have very specific requirements.

<Public service message over.>:)

[GOPisEvil]

8. A baby one fell into my parents' yard.

We cared for it until it was old enough to leave on its own. It used to come around a lot and would take food from our hands. But, we haven't seen her in a while, so she might have run off or was killed. :-(

They don't make very good pets insofar as being caged or residing indoors. You have to let them go, but they know where to come back and get fed.

[zbdent]

6. Somebody, PLEASE insert the picture of Skwer-El

the rodent from Krypton.

(I don't know who has it!)

[TrogL]

7. Squirrels steal golf balls

The front page of the Edmonton Journal today (yes, we do get newspapers in "dreadful valley" and no I don't buy them) is a long article on squirrels stealing golfballs at one of the local golf courses. The CBC also ran a story about it a few days ago.

Talk about a slow news day.

[lynx rufus]

9. One error in the article:

"Analysed closely, these calls turned out to be ultrasonic, in the 50 kHz range, placing them way beyond the hearing of humans and of predators as well."

Cats can hear in the 100 kHz range;
Hawks can hear in the 60 kHz;
some Dogs can hear in the 50 kHz range.
This is to say, contrary to the author's claim,
most squirrel predators can hear the whispering squirrel
- he is saying, 'it's supper time!'
I wonder if the whisper is in fact closer to 100 kHz, similar to that
of the mouse.

[Beware the Beast Man]

10. "I could see the squirrells, and they were married...

..and then they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and its not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set..