AI Summary
5 min readWhen a Squirrel Waves Its Tail at a Rattlesnake, It's Not Just Bluffing
The most startling discovery in squirrel biology in recent years came from a heat-sensitive infrared camera pointed at a California ground squirrel. When the squirrel spotted a rattlesnake—but not a harmless gopher snake—it shunted blood into its tail, making it glow like a light saber in the snake's infrared vision. The message was clear: I see you. Don't bother hunting here. The rattlesnake, an ambush predator that depends on surprise, usually moved on. This is not a trick the squirrel learned. It is an instinct honed over millions of years of coevolution, and it is one of many reasons Dr. Karen Munroe, a professor of biology at Baldwin Wallace University who has studied squirrels since she was seventeen, calls them "badasses."
What Makes a Squirrel a Squirrel
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What you'll learn
- 1 (05:03) **Meet Dr. Karen Munroe, a Sciuridologist** - the guest introduces herself and explains how she became a squirrel researcher.
- 2 (13:43) **Where Squirrels Live & Why They Thrive** - a global overview of squirrel habitats and their evolutionary success.
- 3 (14:53) **The Best Part of an Acorn & How Squirrels Plant Forests** - details on acorn handling, tannins, and oak dispersal.
- 4 (20:51) **Squirrels Are Liars: Deceptive Caching & Spatial Memory** - research showing squirrels fake burying food and organize caches by nut type.
- 5 (23:33) **A Squirrel's Year: Sleep, Sex, and Social Nests** - the annual cycle of a typical gray squirrel, including torpor, mating, and communal nesting.
- 6 (30:06) **The Bird Feeder War & Squirrel Conservation** - advice on deterring squirrels from feeders and a surprising fact about global squirrel populations.
- 7 (32:35) **How Many Species? Tree vs. Ground vs. Flying Squirrels** - a taxonomy breakdown of the 289 squirrel species and their key differences.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Flying squirrels. Fox squirrels. Giant squirrels. Tiny ones. Grey ones. Black ones. Fluorescent ones? Alie is losing her mind talking to dream guest and Sciuridologist, Dr. Karen Munroe. This Baldwin Wallace University professor has studied squirrels for decades and addresses where they sleep, how many babies they have, if they bite each other’s junk, how they find their acorns, Marvel movies, birdfeeder drama, imported squirrels, melanistic morphs, world domination, fistfights with birders, the rarest squirrel, the best place for squirrel tourism and more. You’ll scatter hoard so many nuggets of squirrel trivia. Enjoy.
Follow Dr. Karen Munroe on Instagram
Donations were made to: Letters to a Pre-Scientist and Squirrel Mapper
More episode sources and links
Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes
Crotalology (RATTLESNAKES) with Dr. Emily Taylor
Other episodes you may enjoy: Thermophysiology (BODY HEAT), Indigenous Cuisinology (NATIVE COOKING), Dendrology (TREES) with J. Casey Clapp, Urban Rodentology (SEWER RATS), Fire Ecology (WILDFIRES), Indigenous Fire Ecology (GOOD FIRE), Fulminology (LIGHTNING), Field Trip: Birds of Prey and Raptor Facts, Entomology (INSECTS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Carobology (NOT-CHOCOLATE TREES), Felinology (CATS), Chickenology (HENS & ROOSTERS), More from this podcast