When you think of squirrels, chances are you&rsquo;re imagining a striped little creature&nbsp;with a fluffy tail, nibbling on a nut or two. However, a new paper published in Journal of Ethology&nbsp;has shown evidence that California ground squirrels also hunt, kill and eat voles.
Not only does this change how we see these everyday critters, it also has larger implications for conservationists and climate change scientists.
The study, led by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and University of California, Davis, is the first to log widespread such carnivorous behaviour. While the research team did not witness any actual hunts, they observed that the animal, hitherto thought to be granivorous, is an &ldquo;opportunistic omnivore&rdquo;.
The squirrels&rsquo;&nbsp;carnivorous behaviour peaked during the first two weeks of July--when citizen scientists reported an uptick in vole numbers at the&nbsp;Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County&nbsp;in California.
&ldquo;The fact that California ground squirrels are behaviourally flexible and can respond to changes in food availability might help them persist in environments rapidly changing due to the presence of humans,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Sonja Wild, a postdoctoral research fellow in the UC Davis Environmental Science and Policy department.
These observations come in the 12th year of the Long-term Behavioural Ecology of California Ground Squirrels Project. Out of 74 vole-squirrel interactions observed between June and July, 42% involved active hunting of these smaller rodents.
&ldquo;This was shocking&hellip; Squirrels are one of the most familiar animals to people. We see them right outside our windows; we interact with them regularly. Yet here&rsquo;s this never-before-encountered-in-science behaviour&nbsp;that sheds light on the fact that there&rsquo;s so much more to learn about the natural history of the world around us,&rdquo; said lead author Jennifer E. Smith, an associate professor of biology at UW-Eau Claire who leads the long-term ground squirrels project&nbsp;with Wild.
Hunting behaviour among squirrels could have cascading effects on ecosystems. For example, if squirrels begin reducing vole populations, it could alter vegetation growth (since voles are herbivores) and shift predator-prey dynamics, potentially affecting other animals. It also points to human encroachment's role on native squirrel habitats since it shows that squirrels may turn to hunting as a survival strategy if food resources like nuts become scarce.

California ground squirrel consuming freshly hunted adult California vole (Pic courtesy researchers)

Researchers stunned by new observation among California ground squirrels

Squirrels Hunting Voles? This is Nuts!

Researchers stunned by new observation among California ground squirrels

December 19, 2024 | 15:35 IST