Squirrel Quirks

I have enjoyed observing the behavior of many different animals around the homestead, over the last several decades. My motivation to do so, besides the delight of watching them, is to learn how to better live with them (1) by coming to know the qualities of the critters that I consider beneficial or enjoyable, in order to find ways to welcome them into our routine. (2) For those animals I find problematic, it similarly helps to understand them, so that we may coexist with minimal strife. (3) And for the vast majority of critters who I see as neither enjoyable nor annoying, it still helps to get to know them as members of Nature's wonderful world.

The more I learn about our resident critters, the more I come to see each one as a unique individual. Not all mice or crows or oak trees behave identically. They each have their own peculiar traits, and that has sometimes led me to see them as possessing personalities... personalities that differ, just as each human has their own unique disposition. For example, some mice are bolder than others. Some deer are more curious. Some chickadees are more tame than others. I sometimes even come to feel that I can tell one individual from another—simply through its familiar behavior.

Now comes a study by researchers at the University of California Davis, that shows squirrels exhibit human-like personality traits. The researchers spent lots of time observing and tracking a certain species of squirrel. They observed such things as how various squirrels reacted to their mirror images or how closely one could approach a squirrel before it ran away. But most of the work was simply hours of watching and noting—the classic technique of ethology, such as championed by Jane Goodall and Franz de Waal (both of whom I have written about before).

What they found in squirrels was a wide range of bold, aggressive, athletic, and sociable behaviors. Some squirrels were simply more outgoing. Bolder and more active squirrels covered more territory and were more successful at finding food. Aggressive squirrels claimed better perches, from which to spot food or predators. However, those same audacious critters sometimes paid the price of being at greater risk for accidents or predation. Doesn't that seem similar to various human personalities? Audacious men often score better with women, but also are more likely to get into fights. Sociable people tend to have a wider circle of friends, but often have more shallow relationships than shy people.

One of the results of the UC Davis study was that the researchers came to see individual squirrels as “who” rather than “it.” I sometimes have even given names to individual animals who I have come to recognize as having distinct personalities.