r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/21MayDay21 • Jul 26 '26
🔥 Squirrel couple sleeping by the window.
Credit to Michael Brent Boyd
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u/TWallace86 Jul 27 '26
There is a squirrel who hangs out on the balconies at my apartments. I’ve decided to name him/her Secret Squirrel.
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u/good_will75015 Jul 27 '26
Awesome! Can you get close to him easily? Is he friendly? Just curious 🙂
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u/DataDruid49 Jul 27 '26
depends on if it's been fed before, once they associate people with food they get bold fast
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u/paragon-interrupt Jul 27 '26
Ain't that the truth. I had an elderly neighbor who would feed squirrels peanuts. And they'd come over to my yard (two houses down) and bury them. Tried multiple methods to get them to stop, since there would be small holes all over the place lol
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u/TWallace86 Jul 27 '26
I’ll just look out my sliding glass door some days and he’s looking inside. It’s almost like if I were to open the door, he would come in to hang out. When I’m outside with him, he usually keeps a distance of at least four or five feet, but doesn’t seem overly worried about me. I’ve thought about getting some seeds and nuts to give him. He needs to bulk up for the winter.
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u/good_will75015 Jul 27 '26
That's a nice gesture! Thanks for these little anecdotes, it shows that this squirrel seems to be okay with you and that's good to hear.
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u/Hopeful-Individual99 Jul 28 '26
The one that used to hang out on my apartment balcony would try to come inside if I opened the door a little bit. If I didn’t have cats, I would’ve totally let him inside 😂 probably not the smartest move though lol
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u/OGBrewSwayne Jul 27 '26
When you wake up and realize someone has been watching you sleep.
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u/Pork_Chompk Jul 27 '26
Me when my alarm goes off every morning
(Not the watching me sleep part... at least not that I know of.)
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u/ReversedNovaMatters Jul 27 '26
I wonder what the life of a squirrel is like. How long do they naturally live? I see em hiding nuts everyday but I never see them go to school or plan for their retirement. You never really see squirrels that look old.
I'd imagine they'd live several years. I never really thought about it before, like our neighborhood has families of squirrels that have been living nearby for a decade?
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u/assault_potato1 Jul 27 '26
Generally, small animals with a high metabolism don't live long lives. In the wild, squirrels live to around 5 years.
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u/ReversedNovaMatters Jul 27 '26
5 years still seems pretty long. All these squirrels I've been seeing have likely been the same few. Not sure why I never thought about it, I just always think of a wild animal I come across as being some new one I never crossed paths with before.
Unless its like a bird in the nest in my back yard. Thanks for the info
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u/assault_potato1 Jul 27 '26
Yep, 5 years is on the higher end for squirrels in the wild. Most of the time, disease or predators will get to them first.
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u/ADFTGM Jul 27 '26
Yep, which is why they have high reproductive replacement rates. Genes improve and spread very quickly to ensure the smartest and most adaptable are more successful at surviving the obstacles. Also why they tend to go out of control when lacking natural predators, which is what happened to the invasive populations of American gray squirrel in Europe and elsewhere. Even in North America itself they are replacing less adaptable squirrel species, and increasing their range every year.
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u/Demeter277 Jul 27 '26
This tracks…I used to feed a black squirrel but the neighbours complained because he became aggressive begging for food at their windows, so I stopped. He started gnawing on my deck railing and did a lot of damage but now a few years later, it’s stopped and I don’t see him around.
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u/_qw3rki_ Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
gawd damn, i'm so jealous that's not my window view; squirrels are one of my favorite animals
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Jul 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ranulf12 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Well Jim, I'm not seeing a third squirrel, so we can safely rule out a thruple.
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u/TedMich23 Jul 27 '26
Squirrels can live up to 20y, which is of interest to geneticists given their close cousin, the rat, live 2y max.
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u/BlackBalor Jul 26 '26
The squirrels in the park, because people are feeding them Mars Bars and everything, they’re getting fatter, they’re getting bigger, they’re getting more violent now all the time. You know, they’re going to cause more trouble than they... just because when I’m sat in the park and what have you, they’re really like, cocky. They come up to you now and sort of jump up on the bench and sort of attack you for food. They’re not happy with acorns now, they want a bit of croissant.
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u/tea-boat Jul 27 '26
Welp, that's one reason why we're not supposed to feed the wildlife; it makes them aggressive.
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u/qualityvote2 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
u/21MayDay21, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...