In a nutshell (no pun intended!), squirrels are clever, charismatic, nimble, acrobatic, intelligent, adaptable, feisty rodents with a “knack for mischief” and “super-hero-like talents” deserving of “an action movie deal”!

One of the “most diverse of all modern mammals”, squirrels span more than 250 species, are “native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica”, and “thriv[e] everywhere from Arctic tundra and tropical rainforest to farms, suburbs, and big cities”. This means that most of us are lucky enough to see squirrels – who are “among the most visible wildlife in many big cities and suburbs” – regularly, though few of us know just amazing they really are: 

Squirrels are secret superheroes
byu/parishilton2 inwholesomememes

They land like superheroes, literally.

Squirrels not only plant in style, but they can survive a fall from just about any height “[t]hanks to their size”, “their mass”, and “how they fall”: When falling, squirrels “instinctively spread their bodies out, with legs extended. This slows down the speed at which they are falling because it increases the wind resistance. This allows the squirrels to glide as they fall.”

They are more athletic than top Olympians.

Many squirrels “can pull off an 8-foot jump from a stationary position” and are “fantastic runners” who can reach 20 mph” – often sprinting in zigzag patterns to avoid natural predators!

They are ecological powerhouses.

Squirrels not only act as “forest ambassadors, using parks and backyards as their urban embassies”, but they are amazing drivers of “forest regeneration”. Because squirrels (i) “can bury up to 10,000 nuts” in a single season, (ii) often store their food using a “technique called ‘scatter hoarding,’ in which they spread their food across hundreds or thousands of hiding places”, and (iii) only “recover up to 80% of their cache”, squirrels have “contributed countless trees to our nation’s forest” and allowed “forest[s] to sustain [themselves] through the growth of new plants that replace large forest trees as they die and get older”. 

They act as perfumers to outsmart predators.

Some squirrels “collect old rattlesnake skin, chew it up, and then lick their fur, creating a kind of ‘rattlesnake’ perfume that helps them hide from smell-dependent predators….”

They bait-and-switch.

Squirrels may pretend to bury a nut in a hole to “throw off potential food thieves” – a practice called deceptive caching!

They outperform technophiles.

Squirrels have “‘taken down the power grid more times than’” hackers!

They are tunnel engineers.

With a “detailed spatial memory and a strong sense of smell”, squirrels not only remember the locations of hundreds or thousands of nuts and seeds, but some “are able to smell food buried under a foot of snow” – which they can access through self-built tunnels!

They have “remarkable little bodies”.

In addition to padded feet that “cushion[] jumps from up to 20 feet (6 meters)”, eye placement that allows for significant peripheral vision, “fluffy tails” they can use “like parachutes in order to balance themselves during high leaps” and “wrap themselves up” in to stay warm, squirrels can “rotate their hind feet 180 degrees” (which helps them perform their famously impressive acrobatics and access “seemingly inaccessible” bird feeders!). 

They are complex communicators.

Squirrels are “talkative” and use “complex systems” of high-frequency chirps and tail movements” to “scold predators”, “alert neighbors” to dangers, initiate relationships with one another, and much, much more. (In addition to chirps, squirrels also “use their ‘voices’” to bark, quack, squeak, and squeal.)

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