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008 - Squirrel - what is he eating?
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| Photo Information |
| Copyright: Margit Schendel (Margit) (83) |
| Genre: Animals |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2003-11-23 |
| Categories: Mammals |
| Exposure: f/3.7, 1/100 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2005-05-02 19:44 |
| Viewed: 1152 |
| Points: 4 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This cute little squirrel I saw one morning in my backyard. Bit by bit I got close to it with my camera on. I heard it eat with a cracking sound, but could not see any nuts on the floor where it was “digging” for food. Only when I saw the picture on my computer I saw the beetle in his “hands”. Must have been a delicious dish…
Wilfred Funk’s Word Origins tells us that the English designation for this creature comes “from the Greek skiouros, ‘shadow tail,’ from skia, ‘shadow,’ and oura, ‘tail.’” This work then adds: “Since about a third of every squirrel is tail the description ‘shadow tail’ seems like an acute choice for a name.”—P. 197.
A squirrel’s tail is a most useful appendage. When this creature, with legs spread straight, makes its tremendous leaps from the branch of one tree to the branch of another tree, the tail helps it to maintain balance. Faced with an antagonist, the squirrel can use its tail like a shield. Should the temperature plunge, the tail serves well as a blanket. The tail can also function as an umbrella when arched over the animal’s back during a rainstorm.
Squirrels are famous for hoarding. Carrying a nut in its mouth, a squirrel will dig a hole with its forefeet, deposit the nut and then cover it up with dirt. According to one estimate, it takes seven minutes for a gray squirrel to bury ten nuts. A single squirrel may hide some 10,000 nuts in a three-month period. Many of the nuts that are not later dug up and eaten are thus planted. In this way squirrels contribute much toward propagating trees.
Besides having a pleasant beauty, squirrels are busy workers indeed. The next time you see these delightful creatures scamper about, remember that they are providing a valuable service in planting trees. (extracted from the “Awake!” Magazin, December 8, 1976, p.10)
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This shot was taken where I live, in Cesario Lange. |
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