In fact, you have to start stimulating them just to get them to feed.” “You don’t want that to happen, so you stimulate them. Orphaned squirrels raised by humans risk becoming constipated and bloated. The mother’s selfless act is so hard-wired in a squirrel’s very being that babies can urinate and defecate only after being stimulated by the mother licking around. “The mother’s removing the only thing that can give a scent: the pee and poo.” With no scent to follow, predators can’t find the defenseless baby. “Evolutionarily, that’s a great strategy,” Don said. This is to protect her litter from predators. Squirrels are among species - deer are another - where the mother uses her mouth to carry her offspring’s poo and pee away from the nest. Earlier in his career, Don worked in Syracuse, N.Y., rehabilitating baby squirrels. This fascinating bit of information came from Don Moore, associate director of animal care sciences at the National Zoo. Speaking of which, Answer Man recently learned something rather interesting: Baby squirrels must be taught to defecate. Richard assured Answer Man that squirrels do poop. Thorington Jr., a curator of mammals at the Smithsonian Institution. Then again, it’s not as if squirrel feces is very distinctive or very large. Perhaps you are mistaking it for the scat of another animal - a rabbit, for example. Questions such as this one: “There are thousands of squirrels all over my neighborhood, but I never seem to see any squirrel poop. Before we close out this year’s festivities, Answer Man wants to address some of the questions that came in from readers in the past seven days. Today’s column marks the official end of Squirrel Week.
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