It’s Electric

Living in a place like rural PA, visible power-lines are a pretty common thing. You know, the tall wooden polls along roads and houses, strung together by thick black wires that carry electricity. For us, these wires are essential to our everyday lives because they power the things that we can’t live without– televisions, coffee makers, microwaves, and phone chargers. But, these power-lines aren’t only important due to their source of power, but also as a source of leisure. No, not a source of leisure for humans, but rather, for small mammals! Animals such birds, rats, and SQUIRRELS love power-lines as perching spots and a means of getting around town in the quickest and most efficient way possible. But, as you could imagine, these power-line excursions aren’t necessarily the… safest. Animal electrocution on power-lines is -unfortunately a commonly-occurring activity, which is not only detrimental to the animals themselves, but also creates quite a problem for the electric companies. In fact, it has been creating such problems that a New York Times journalist decided to do his own personal research on the topic. John Mooallem published an article in August of 2013 relaying his study’s results, which are, quite frankly, pretty shocking. John first became intrigued by the topic when in April of 2013, a single squirrel (who unfortunately did not make it…RIP) created power loss for over 700 Florida residents, forcing the delay of three Florida state-wide achievement tests in 3 nearby schools. John’s studies go on to document an additional 50 power outages among 24 states caused by squirrels between Labor Day of 2013 (May 27th) and the time that the article was published in August. The most extensive of these power outages occurred in Portland, Oregon, where in the month of July alone, over 9,000 people collectively lost power due to squirrels.

Now, I know this a touchy topic to discuss, it being death and all… especially because it involves the cutest and fluffiest animals on this planet, but I feel as if I need to get into the specifics a bit.

So, power-lines are designed to take on this kind of interruption. Once the… electrocuted animal falls to the ground from the power-line, the flow of electricity continues. But, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes… you know… the squirrels… get stuck. Yes, they get stuck in the power-lines sometimes, and this is what creates the massive interruptions in the flow of energy. The electricity essentially… ugh this is so hard to say… disintegrates the squirrels completely when they get stuck, which as you could imagine, creates a bunch of problems.

Overall, it is estimated that between 7 and 20 percent of power outages are caused by squirrels, and just for an idea of cost, it is estimated that California’s economy spent over 300 million dollars just on squirrel related power outages.

I know that this was a gruesome topic, but guys, this is the dark side of squirrels so it had to be said.

Catch Me If You Can

If any of you have ever been out squirrel watching, or just have noticed squirrels while walking to class or around campus, you have probably at one point or another noticed them chasing each other. You know, one squirrel running intensely after another in a grassy area, or even better, one squirrel following another in a “spiral motion” down the trunk of a tree. I personally love watching squirrels do this. It reminds me of when dogs chase each other, except it’s cuter and their tails are much more majestic. But, honestly, I never associated squirrel chases with anything other than just playfulness—I always assumed that the action was all in good fun, and that, well, realistically there probably isn’t much you do to amuse yourself as a squirrel, so running after each other is probably like, the highlight of their days. But, after stumbling across an article, I realized that chasing one another isn’t always a light-hearted act—sometimes it’s an act of aggression.

According to the article, the main reason that squirrels chase one another is due to territorial reasons. The flying squirrel and red squirrel are the both very territorial, and can often be seen chasing away fellow squirrels of their species when perpetrators are eating food from their territory. However, the little guys that we often see on campus, the grey squirrels, actually aren’t territorial at all. Rather, they chase one another in order to either establish dominance, for mating reasons, or, as my initial instincts led me to believe, just for some good old fashioned fun.

Essentially, when I say establishing dominance, they are really just trying to show the other squirrel “who’s boss.” Think of it like this—

Squirrel One: *scampers onto the Old Main Lawn, in search of nuts.”

Squirrel Two: *notices squirrel one on his territory, the Old Main Lawn* Hey, you. Yeah, I’m talking to you, fluffy. Get out of here, those are my nuts. *Chases squirrel one ferociously off of the lawn and into downtown.*

That’s probably exactly how it happens in the squirrel world.

When it comes to mating reasons, I think that’s pretty self-explanatory and I will NOT be creating dialogue of this scenario.

And finally, just like I originally though, yes, squirrels do chase one another around just for the fun of it. But, it is important to note that this behavior is almost exclusively exhibited in adolescent squirrels. Just as we outgrow the game of tag, so do squirrels.

Well, there you have it folks. So the next time you see one squirrel chasing another around here on campus, just keep in mind that it may not be all fun and games. It could be an assertion of dominance… or a desperate plea for love/babies.

 

Red squirrels are such drama queens.

http://www.livescience.com/32740-why-do-squirrels-chase-each-other-.html

A Bit of a Bite

Now, some of you may be thinking that based on the title of this post that squirrels are evil and aggressive animals. This is not the case. I understand that these posts are about “the dark side of squirrels,” but I swear, squirrels really aren’t evil… just… just read the blog.

Getting bit by a squirrel really isn’t common, at all, but it does happen. Just as people get electrocuted by their toasters and fall into toilets , people also get bit by squirrels every so often. In fact, it is so rare to be bit by a squirrel that one squirrel bite occurs for every 100 dog bites and for every 10 human bites (I personally find that to be a creepy statistic but that’s what the source indicates so I figured I would include it.)  Realistically, squirrel bites only occur when you trap the creatures in a corner and harass them, or if you feed them and hold the food in your fingers rather than in your palm. But, if you do get bit by a squirrel, there are some steps you should follow in order to assure that the accident is handled in a safe and proper manner.

The first thing you should know when dealing with squirrel bites is that it is very uncommon for squirrels to carry rabies. Generally, animals that tend to carry rabies (raccoon, possums, etc,) are enemies of the squirrel, meaning that squirrels avoid these animals at all costs and very rarely does the disease spread to them. With this being said, it generally is not necessary to contact animal control unless you are beginning to clearly display signs of rabies.

Initially after being bit, it is a good idea to quickly wash the wound with luke-warm water and disinfect it with alcohol. After doing this, if you are still feeling uneasy about the accident, it may also be a good idea to take a trip to the hospital… which is apparently becoming more and more common for victims of squirrel bites. I say this because as of October of 2015, there is now a unique medical code for reporting a squirrel bite. You see, when you go to the hospital, depending on the illness or injury you have, there is a specific code to record it in medical records for reimbursement purposes. For example, when a patient shows up to a doctor’s office with the flu, the medical code is ICD-9-CM 487.1. For a squirrel bite, the code is W53.21XA. Isn’t that neat? I personally find that to be pretty entertaining. 

So, I think that’s about all you really need to know about squirrel bites folks. Don’t go around harassing squirrels and you should be able to avoid this situation entirely. So… just don’t harass them (AKA try to catch them. I know it’s tempting. Just don’t do it. Trust me, I would know.)

I’m kidding I haven’t tried to catch one more than once.