Saturday, January 06, 2007

Squirrels.


I have a question on these bushy tailed chaps. Don't they hibernate? Bushy Park is full of them at the moment, scampering thither and yon, practically running up the legs of yours truly as I galloped/wheezed/fallomped my way past them to day-one ran up the tree until he was eye-level, a bit disconcerting.
It is the mild winter? Or do Irish grey squirrels not hibernate?

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I reckon what you seen were most likely Grey Squirrels (introduced to Ireland from North America in the early 1900's) not the native Red.

Unlike the Red, the Grey do not hibernate.

Oh, and don't get too close. They will inflict a nasty bite if they feel threatened. Yer man, Will, on the Ray D'Arcy Show found this out the hard way ... and he's a zoologist!

7:46 a.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Thank you PS. They were grey, and very large. You could very well be correct about the aggression. One ran across my path the other day and up a tree until; he was about face height, and he did not look in the least bit disturbed by me, in fact everything about his body language suggested he was preparing to defend his litle realm if I didn't move it along.

11:29 a.m.  

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