Scientists have discovered that in addition to seeds and nuts, some California ground squirrels also eat voles.
“This was shocking,” said Jenn Smith, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. “We had never seen this behavior before.”
For the study, scientists observed squirrels in a regional park near the San Francisco Bay and consistently saw the creatures hunting down voles. Such sightings, recorded in videos and photographs, coincided with a surge in vole numbers at the height of summer. The research, published in the Journal of Ethology, is the first to find a significant number of squirrels eating meat.
“I could barely believe my eyes,” said coauthor Sonja Wild, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis. “From then, we saw that behavior almost every day. Once we started looking, we saw it everywhere.”
The fact that squirrels are willing and able to hunt voles, Wild said, may help them cope with shortages of food in a changing landscape. Researchers are keen to understand how many squirrels hunt voles and how they learn to hunt.
“Squirrels are one of the most familiar animals to people. We see them right outside our windows,” Wild said. Their newly discovered appetite for voles, she said, “sheds light on the fact that there’s so much more to learn about the natural history of the world around us.”
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