It's Squirrel Eat Squirrel World
WARNING! This post is kind of gross and deals with squirrel cannibalism. There's going to be a blurry photo, but you'll know what's going on. If you would like to stick with the image that good old Walt Disney gave us about cute animals, I suggest skipping this post.
I took this photo of a gray squirrel outside my window today. He's been having a tough time this winter, from October through January he had absolutely no hair on his tail, but in the last month, some has grown in. I notice that he never makes it to my window ledge. A couple of times he was scaled the catalpa tree but is turned away by the more aggressive squirrels. He does get plenty of food from the dumpsters and from the berries on the trees. I don't know what these are, but these must be last resort berries. They've been on the tree all winter and no bird or squirrel has touched them until now. In the cold weather the robins have been eating them as have starlings and pigeons. Now squirrels.
However, sometimes when you really want some protein, over wintered berries just don't cut it. Today, I got this email from Gloria and Fred:
Last week we saw "our" squirrel (the one who raids our bird feeder and chews the wood trim off our garage) with a bird in its mouth. My husband was disbelieving of his eyes. Last night we saw the demon squirrel with ANOTHER SQUIRREL (looked like a baby) and watched it eating it (photo below). This grossed me out so much I skipped dinner. Should we be reporting this to someone? Are we harboring a dangerous development on par with Bird Flu? (OK, we are not that worried, but is this normal?)
I would hear this from time to time when working at the bird store and about two or three times a year I get an email about it. This is not common squirrel behavior, but meat eating is known to happen. They will eat bird nestlings and eggs in the spring and summer and I have heard customers tell stories of squirrels attacking and killing sparrows and finches--more than likely weaker birds with signs of illness or injury.
As for the eating of the young, I have read of this happening when food is scarce or when males would like females in their area to go back into breeding mode. Since the emailers live here in Minnesota, I would guess that our sudden cold snap had a little to do with this as well.
Anyone else out there have meat eating squirrel stories?
I took this photo of a gray squirrel outside my window today. He's been having a tough time this winter, from October through January he had absolutely no hair on his tail, but in the last month, some has grown in. I notice that he never makes it to my window ledge. A couple of times he was scaled the catalpa tree but is turned away by the more aggressive squirrels. He does get plenty of food from the dumpsters and from the berries on the trees. I don't know what these are, but these must be last resort berries. They've been on the tree all winter and no bird or squirrel has touched them until now. In the cold weather the robins have been eating them as have starlings and pigeons. Now squirrels.However, sometimes when you really want some protein, over wintered berries just don't cut it. Today, I got this email from Gloria and Fred:
Last week we saw "our" squirrel (the one who raids our bird feeder and chews the wood trim off our garage) with a bird in its mouth. My husband was disbelieving of his eyes. Last night we saw the demon squirrel with ANOTHER SQUIRREL (looked like a baby) and watched it eating it (photo below). This grossed me out so much I skipped dinner. Should we be reporting this to someone? Are we harboring a dangerous development on par with Bird Flu? (OK, we are not that worried, but is this normal?)
I would hear this from time to time when working at the bird store and about two or three times a year I get an email about it. This is not common squirrel behavior, but meat eating is known to happen. They will eat bird nestlings and eggs in the spring and summer and I have heard customers tell stories of squirrels attacking and killing sparrows and finches--more than likely weaker birds with signs of illness or injury.As for the eating of the young, I have read of this happening when food is scarce or when males would like females in their area to go back into breeding mode. Since the emailers live here in Minnesota, I would guess that our sudden cold snap had a little to do with this as well.
Anyone else out there have meat eating squirrel stories?
posted by birdchick at 9:41 PM
37 Comments:
Hi Sharon,
I have seen our native Douglas squirrels here take baby birds in the summer. I was told they need the calcium. Not pleasant to watch.
Dawn
Washington State
I'm pretty sure most rodent species will cannibalize their young if they die. I saw pet mice and hamsters do it -- it was their way of cleaning the nest -- so it makes sense to me that squirrels would, too.
As for eating birds: I say, if it's okay for Great Blue Herons can eat squirrels, turnabout (albeit on smaller species ;) ) is fair play.
klia
The Red Squirrels we have out here in upstate New York are known to be a significant nest-predator, especially after their population booms from an abundance of cones to feed on. Once the cones run out, watch out birdies!
California Ground Squirrels are bloodthirsty cannibals too. They dine on roadkills of their own kind (no, they aren't sniffing at their fallen comrades in mourning - they're just hungry!) and are likewise known to eat their babies.
No first hand knowledge of squirrels. But my kids used to breed mice (for sale to reptile stores). Every so often one of the mothers would start eating her babies.
These were well-nourished, well taken care of adults, so hunger shouldn't have been a factor.
We chalked it up to abberational behavior and would remove said mothers from the breeding pool.
Perhaps squirrels can develop that same abberational behavior. After all, who's to say that the "meal" was not that squirrel's own offspring?
I don't know about squirrels but I've heard of chipmunks coming along and eating birds hanging low in mist nets- eek.
When my childhood feline companion, Mrs. Emma Peel, was pregnant some well-meaning sensible person told me, among other things, that if a kitten is born dead or incapable of surviving, the mother will eat it. Even though this did not happen (that I know of) I was glad I was prepared for the possibility. In addition to the hygienic reason for the behavior (parents will also consume the afterbirth and waste matter) there is a safety factor involved - if a dead or crippled young one is detected by a predator, it's a sign that there may be fresher meat nearby.
Cannibalizing dead young animals by their parents, whether it (1) keeps the carcass from rotting in the nest/burrow/den (possibly causing disease or luring predators to the smell), or (2) recycles the energy spent on feeding the offspring, or (3) disposes of a carcass that is outside of the nest/den/burrow, while also removing a cue that "above here there be birdies" seems like a very helpful adaptation - not abberant at all.
Kathy
Golden Valley
I remember watching a program about backyard wildlife that showed a mouse nest being attacked by a house cat. The female mouse killed and ate the brains and the organs of the young. The narrator said that she did this to keep the protein rather than have it wasted on the cat. She would rather eat it and produce more young in another hole than loose all the work, effort and energy to the cat.
The other night, I saw a squirrel carrying a smaller alive squirrel around in it's mouth. It was dragging the smaller squirrel from trees over to the roof and trying to stuff it some small ventilation holes in the roof. The little one ended up falling and landed on the ground alive. The squirrel came down after it and picked it up again. The next morning, I was walking my dog by, and the squirrel was on the ground, eating the head of the small squirrel. The presence of the dog made the squirrel leave, and it hasn't been back to it's victim. I had never seen cannalbalism behavior in squirrels before, and it just seemed a little shocking. The only thing we could think of was a territory dispute.
kacie
WA
Yesterday I had a "kamikaze" bird hit the sliding glass door to my deck. It died. A couple of hours later, I saw a red squirrel EATIING it! When the red squirrel saw me, it picked up the dead bird and ran off with it. YUCK! But I have to thank the squirrel for disposing of the dead bird for me.
Okay, I'm so freaked out this is the second time ive seen a squirrel on my property eating something really small that he dug out of the groundlike baby hamster(newborn size) small. I dont know what it is im just really freaked out, does anyone know what it could be? please respond.
Just last week i saw a sight that freaked me out. I saw a black squirrel jumping around and thought it was playing, until i realised why the birds were freaking out, he caught himself a bird, not a baby bird, but a reasonable sized sparrow and proceeded to eat its head off and then rip off the feathers and keep happily eating his new friend. I took pictures with my camera phone because i didn't think anyone would believe me, alas you can't really tell its a bird he's eating (so much for 2 megapixel camera phones...sheesh)
And honestly, if i'd have been close to home, i'd have gotten my pellet gun and shot the thing. I'm pretty sure this wasn't normal behavior and the animal was quite possibly rabid...then again, maybe he was starving? I know if i were a starving animal, i wouldn't be above eating whatever i can get my hands on....bird, human ankle, whatever. hehe.
In the past two weeks I have twice seen a rock squirrel eating a bird...most likely a sparrow. Did not see the squirrel "take" the bird, and the other birds around did not exhibit any fear of the squirrel eating one of them! He ate from the bottom, with the head hanging down. We got reasonably good pictures of this when the second one occurred - we were ready.
Okay, I had to check this myself because I was really grossed out. Last night, my cat was watching a squirrel eating on the rail of my deck. I thought nothing of it until I took a closer look and found out the squirrel was tearing into a dead animal. GROSS! After we chase off the squirrel and took a closer look, we found the animal to be a baby opposum. Totally disgusting!
Okay, I had to check this myself because I was really grossed out. Last night, my cat was watching a squirrel eating on the rail of my deck. I thought nothing of it until I took a closer look and found out the squirrel was tearing into a dead animal. GROSS! After we chase off the squirrel and took a closer look, we found the animal to be a baby opposum. Totally disgusting!
It's all true. We were shocked to see a squirrel dart onto a tree limb of resting birds (above our bird feeder-no less!) and snatch one up quicker than you would believe. The squirrel ran up the tree while I shouted at him. The bird squawked and flapped its wings to no avail. The squirrel was not about to release him. I could not tell what type of bird it was, but it was no small bird!
In happier times, the birds and squirrels would eat side-by-side under the feeder. I guess those days are gone.
This was a first for me. Not a pretty site.
Who knew!
Karen
My children and their friends saw a disturbing sight the other day. Daughter said "look mom, the squirrels are fighting". We have a lot of grey squirrels in our trees, and thought the squirrels were playing around. Well, they were not. Once was the agressor, and the other was trying to keep him (?) out of the nest. He (I just say he, I don't know!) forced his way in the nest which shook so much leaves and branches fell 25 feet to the sidewalk. One squirrel actually fell out of the nest, ran up the sidewalk and back up the tree. I think it was the agressor for the squirrel left in the nest was howling like a wounded cat. The fallen squirrel dashed up the tree, the fight continued with screaming and howling. One friend said, "what fell out?". Upon closer examination, it was a baby squirrel, bites all over it's body, dead on the sidewalk. The fighting and crying continued for a few more minutes, and then it was quiet. We buried the baby (about the size of a small hamster, no hair), but all four of us were affected more than we expected to be. I'm figuring the agressor wanted to mate with the female, and killed the baby that may have not been of his genes. Lions do, but do squirrels? Like others, we are not in a drought, plenty of food around in central Florida.
I just saw the exact same thing and it really freaked me out. I saw an aggressor squirrel attack a nest at the top of a maple tree in our yard. It knocked two babies out of the nest, one fell to the ground and I think died, and the other fell a ways and clung to the tree, mewling up a storm (it was one of the saddest sounds I have heard in a long time). THe aggressor squirrel went after the squirrel on the ground, and at first brought the critter back up to where the nest had been, which led me to think that it was the mother. BUt then it headed back down the tree to the ground, where it started to eat the dead baby squirrel. Yecch. The stranded baby squirrel continued to cry for a while, still clinging to the tree about 30 feet off the ground. The aggressor squirrel left the yard, and now the stranded baby has stopped crying. Nature is nature, I suppose, the squirrel population has been stressed because of the eastern drought, so I guess this kind of desperate behaviour is to be expected.
While I was taking a class on bird-banding and mist-netting, we were taught that most mammals considered to be plant-eaters are really "opportunistic omnivores." If a "vegetarian" mammal comes across a weak, unprotected, or dead bird or mammal, they _will_ take advantage of the situation and have it for dinner. I've heard stories about chipmunks, rabbits, and even deer doing this!
We had 2 hanging bird cages in our patio, each with an adult cockatiel (healthy, strong birds). I came home from work to find a squirrel locked inside one of the cages; the bird had been gutted. Let the squirrel go just trying to get the poor bird out.
After that we put the other bird inside for about a year. Recently put him back outside & this morning found the same creepy squirrel climbing a potted palm tree in an effort to reach it. Had to chase it away 2X, and it was chattering & furious. I will call wildlife today but usually they defend the squirrel from their point of view.
I'm sorry you lost one of your pet birds.
Knowing what I know about wildlife and predatory animals, I do not leave small pets unattended outside. There's no way of knowing that the squirrel that killed your first bird is the same as the second, it could be a different squirrel. Even if you did find a way of catching and removing the squirrel it's only a matter of time until another squirrel tries the same thing.
As a pet bird owner, I do not recommend leaving them outdoors unattended because of squirrels, cats, raccoons, mink (if you have a body of water near, you have mink), Cooper's hawks, snakes, etc.
The best way to keep your pet bird alive is to only have it outdoors when you can be near it and keep predatory animals from coming near. Otherwise, you're basically offering an animal unable to defend itself or get away to predators. The bird cannot fly to safety and if a predator gets inside the cage, it's too small to defend itself. A cockatiel is no match for any of those predators, especially a captive bred bird that has not learned to be wary of predatory animals.
Do not leave pet birds unattended outdoors. It's far too risky.
Hi,
I found out for the first time this past week end that Fox Squirrels eat birds. I saw a squirrel eating something and when we took a closer look, it was a finch. I have never seen that, But after reading here, it does happen. It looked weird.
Okay, now I'm not feeling like I live in bizarro world. Please let me know if this is normal. I live in an average size suburb, trees, backyards, all squirrel friendly. Husband has seen, in the past few months this fall, (and we're in temperate California) a squirrel with both a small mouse-type creature in its mouth, and a writhing snake. Both times he was heading away from or to his nest. Were these meals? Was he moving predators away? Very odd behavior that I've never seen. How odd is this for a rodent? I am so intriged by this behavior. Thanks!
Judy
NW Pennsylvania--looked out window to see squirrel on ground sitting up eating a large bird (head first). Gross!! He later carried the bird in his mouth up on the fence to finish the meal. He spit out the feathers!!! Never heard of this, and have not found anyone else in this area who ever has seen it.
Loesel
Hello Birdchick. Do I have the story for you. Well, I was walking to my room after class at the scenic and beautiful George Mason University, when I noticed a grown squirrel run past me with what resembled a baby squirrel in its mouth. Well, that is indeed what it was. It climbed halfway up the tree, sat on a branch, and began tearing away at the dead baby's face. I threw a rock at the tree to scare it in hopes of dropping its prey, to good avail. Here are the pictures of Timmy, the Faceless Squirrel.
Click the links below and enjoy!
http://photos-468.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v238/17/43/15619468/n15619468_34193945_6990.jpg
http://photos-468.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v238/17/43/15619468/n15619468_34193946_7270.jpg
http://photos-468.ll.facebook.com/photos-ll-sf2p/v238/17/43/15619468/n15619468_34193947_7517.jpg
You can contact me at dschrein@gmu.edu
Actually those links don't work
Go to http://wwww.myspace.com/dirtyrednative and go to the picture section and find the dead squirrel folder.
ENJOY!!!!!
I live in Tucson, where we have several species of squirrel, the largest and most aggressive being the rock squirrel. I had a litter of six born on my property this spring, and yes, I have many times seen them carry off dead birds and eat them. But it gets worse.
I recently had a round tail ground squirrel build a nest nearby. This is very small squirrel, the size of a large hamster. This squirrel had three young. The first, the runt, disappeared within days of emerging from the burrow. A week later, as the remaining two began to explore, I noticed the young rock squirrels bullying one of the baby roundtails. I later found it injured with a broken leg. I was going to capture it and take it to wildlife rehab, but it crawled into the den, and I assume it died that night.
The next day the mother took the remaining baby, moved father away, and dug a new burrow. She spent the day aggressively fighting off the rock squirrels, who were again acting like a gang of bullies. Then came the horror. That even, I was walking the property and spooked the six young rock squirrels, who had been out playing. They all scurried back to the den, and one of them had the third baby roundtail in its mouth. It took the baby into the den. I tried to distract them, hoping it could escape, but to no avail. I believe it was already dead at that point. The baby roundtails were only a few inches long, and the rock squirrels attacked and killed them as if they were defenseless baby birds. I’ll never get over that sight. It was horrible, just horrible.
Just saw this last night.
Squirrel steals bird out of nest. Momma and Daddy bird try to help. The squirrel never let go of the chick, ran down the tree, then started smaking the flopping baby bird against the tree. After that he/she squirrel went to another tree and started plucking.
I never knew that squirrels were killers like this. I though maybe if they found something....but to kill!!! Please join me when I start my "KILL ALL SQUIRRELS" campaign.
hello - about a 1/2 hour ago i took my son to summer camp here in brooklyn - he noticed 2 "cute " squirrels on the top steps of a beautiful brownstone. he is 6 and could only imagine that the one squirrel was happily chomping away on a twig - as we reached the bottom of the stoop we realized that this monster had a small bird in his 2 hands & he was ravaging away. the squirrel next to him seemed to be happy waiting for his turn. we were shocked & i hope this to be an aberration - there seem to be nuts & such in abundance. strange !!! philip/brooklyn
I am aghast. I was in the backyard weeding the garden and put my 2 canary cages outside, not 10 feet away from me. I heard the birds chirping loudly, and what horror when I saw a squirrel had broken into the cage and decapitated 2 canaries! In an effort to save the bird in the other cage, I grabbed the one the squirrel was in! This thing was fierce (reminded me of angry cats, when they hiss and scratch!) trying to bite and claw me! Threw the cage in the air, squirrel darted away and I saved one of the 3 birds... It's smack middle of summertime, I thought they were herbivores! There's so much food around! Can't forget the sight... Just awful...
Hey, I just kind of googled this because of a small problem that just happened. This is the first thing that I could find that might be of help.
About 10 minutes ago I heard my dog yelp, and when I went outside I saw that he was just laying on his side. Normal dog behavior if you ask me, anyways, so I shouted over to see if maybe it was just lonely. But it didn't move. So I kind of shouted again, then dashed over to him. as I bent down a saw a bit of strange fur on my dog's stomach region. As I leaned farther over I noticed it was moving. SOMETHING WAS EATING MY DOG! I quickly tried to grab them, thinking maybe it was just some flesh would, as I grabbed down and grasp the weird fur thing, I noticed that it had a fluffy tail, and I was really confused.
THERE WAS A FUCKING SQUIRREL IN MY DOG!
WHAT THE HELL?!
can anyone explain this? I've been freaked out for the past 30 minutes. Damn it! Damn it! What is this crap!?
I would not have believed it until I saw it with my own two eyes. Today in my backyard, I witnessed a squirrel eating a baby squirrel.
I recently saw a squirrel run through my parents lawn and up a tree carrying a chipmunk in his mouth. I'm not sure if the chipmunk was dead before the squirrel had him or not. My parents and I could not believe what we saw, so I came to this site to find out that it was possible for a squirrel to eat meat. Who would have thought? My first thought was the the chipmunk was stealing the squirrel's food or that it was a territorial thing. Are these possibilities? Thanks for the info.
My husband and I were walking through a park last night (in Central Florida) and saw a squirrel carrying another squirrel in its mouth. We couldn't tell if it was dead or alive, but the one carrying it had quite a firm hold and was jumping from tree to tree. We just moved here from NJ and never witnessed such a thing there, so we thought maybe this was a Florida squirrel behavior. From reading other posts, I see it must be more common than we thought.
I came upon this site researching the possibilities of what I witnessed at my Maryland home two days ago. I saw a gray squirrel carrying something that looked like a ball. It was the same color as the squirrel. I wondered if it was a growth. I took a closer look as it was crossing our yard and saw it was carrying another squirrel, (which looked larger than a baby) and it was sort of wrapped around the carrying squirrel. I told myself at least I didn't have to worry because I did not think squirrels were meat eaters! Now, I'm just sick about it. I know it's against Nature, but I would have intervened if I could have! I am really upset by this behavior!
I was shocked to see this happen today.
There is an overhanging limb in my yard which I had wanted to cut down. My friend Lisa(who rescues orphan squirrels) advised not to yet, after I mentioned there were 2nests visible.
Well today while doing a crossword on my deck, I heard a louder- than-usual squirrel commotion above. Then one or two squirrels hit the ground after falling 25 ft from the limb. One (half grown) recovered and started crawling toward me and the deck, but was quickly met by an adult, which I had hoped was "Mom". Instead, I watched in silent shock while the adult attacked and quickly killed the juvenile. The squealing was horrific, but the youngster very quickly succumbed to its injuries and shock. The adult then proceeded to partially cannibalize from the abdominal area and limbs. Finally I cautiously approached (to be sure the poor baby was truly out of its misery) and the adult retreated. By that time (<5 minutes) the yellowjackets were already feeding as well.
My first thought had been to intervene, but the baby was already seriously hurt by the time I realized what (I suspected) was actually going on. There may have been a second youngster, which hid and hopefully will be reunited with its parent. Sad to watch through the eyes of human compassion, but this is the raw reality of nature, as both web research and this blog confirm.
SFP near Raleigh NC
I was shocked to see this happen today.
There is an overhanging limb in my yard which I had wanted to cut down. My friend Lisa(who rescues orphan squirrels) advised not to yet, after I mentioned there were 2nests visible.
Well today while doing a crossword on my deck, I heard a louder- than-usual squirrel commotion above. Then one or two squirrels hit the ground after falling 25 ft from the limb. One (half grown) recovered and started crawling toward me and the deck, but was quickly met by an adult, which I had hoped was "Mom". Instead, I watched in silent shock while the adult attacked and quickly killed the juvenile. The squealing was horrific, but the youngster very quickly succumbed to its injuries and shock. The adult then proceeded to partially cannibalize from the abdominal area and limbs. Finally I cautiously approached (to be sure the poor baby was truly out of its misery) and the adult retreated. By that time (<5 minutes) the yellowjackets were already feeding as well.
My first thought had been to intervene, but the baby was already seriously hurt by the time I realized what (I suspected) was actually going on. There may have been a second youngster, which hid and hopefully will be reunited with its parent. Sad to watch through the eyes of human compassion, but this is the raw reality of nature, as both web research and this blog confirm.
SFP near Raleigh NC
Post a Comment
<< Home