Hello Squirrels!

Hey everyone, welcome to my blog! This week, we are going to talk about squirrels! Yes, squirrels living on the University of Michigan Diag J

For those who have never seen a squirrel in your life, here are some facts about this quirky creature. Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and woodchucks. A squirrel has soft fur, four flexible paws, and a fluffy tail. Most squirrels live on the trees. They are widely distributed across North America, especially in the urban area where they can find a variety of foods. Unlike those living in the woods where their foods mainly come from seeds, nuts, and fruits, squirrels living on campus have the privilege of sampling exotic foods like left-over Papa John’s pizza found in the trash can.

At U-M, squirrel feeding has a long and glorious history, as shown by a photograph of the Diag taken in 1913 (see below). As a result, the Squirrel Club was founded by Jason Colman and Justin Hyatt in 2002 after a late-night dorm conversation about squirrels. By 2004, the Squirrel Club was one of the largest student organizations at Michigan.

Squirrel Club meetings are held every Sunday, barring inclement weather, on the U-M campus. Members meet at 4 p.m. on the steps of Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, take a handful or two of peanuts, and usually spend the next half hour feeding squirrels on the Diag. Membership is free, so if you are interested in feeding squirrels, you should check out their homepage.

Here, I would like to share some personal tips on squirrel feeding.

·         When you walk on the Diag and see a squirrel near you, stop walking and the squirrel will come to you for food.

·         Some people feed squirrels with their hands, but I don’t recommend this way because you may get a squirrel bite on your fingers. Remember, some squirrels carry the rabies virus.

·         Squirrels become fairly aggressive in the winter when foods are scarce. You may find squirrels continue to follow you even if you have given them all the peanuts you have.

·         In the Fall, squirrels are very busy because they need to bury food for the Michigan winter. Be generous about the amount of food you give them. They need LOTS of food in order to survive in the winter.

·         DON’T feed them human foods such as a sandwich, chocolate, and pizza. Even though some squirrels are used to eating human foods, keep in mind that they are wild animals. Peanuts are their favorite snacks forever!

Hope you will find this post both informative and entertaining. See you on the Diag in the coming Fall!

Written by Yihan Sun, pharmacy professional student (Pharm.D).