“He is, without exception, the wildest animal I ever saw,—a fiery, sputtering little bolt of life, luxuriating in quick oxygen and the woods’ best juices.” Naturalist John Muir, The Mountains of California, 1894 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10012/10012-h/10012-h.htm#chap09
This small squirrel, about half the size of a gray squirrel, divides its life into four categories: foraging and eating, fighting, sleeping, and sex. In their very visible daily lives we see what biologists consider the purposes of life–survive and pass on the DNA of the species. Fulfilling these purposes, of course, takes on many forms of behavior in different measures.
The Douglas squirrel will eat many kinds of seeds of conifer trees, but also likes the easy pickings of sunflower seeds at my bird feeders. One will sit for a half hour or more at a time, picking out the kernels from the hard shells.
The Douglas squirrel also eats a variety of other plant seeds and even birds eggs. Although it is a rapid climber on almost any wood or my window screens, I’ve seldom seen it jump more than a couple of feet. This is unlike the gray squirrel that routinely jumps several feet straight up or more than 10 ft (3 meters) from limb to limb.
The Douglas spends little time socializing or consorting with a mate. Males and females will fight fiercely for food. At my feeders the female seems to win more than lose. The fighting can be vicious. See video below.
Suppose the squirrel hears its own sounds in a way more similar to the slow motion roar? Watch the astute wrestling tactics, the lift and the throw.
The hind feet are powerful, so the top squirrel lifts its foe’s hind feet into the air, rendering it helpless. The goal is to throw the opponent off the railing.
The squirrels do not appear to mind sharing their blood with ticks. In my 12 years here at the slough in squirrel territory I have never had a tick on my skin or clothes. Visiting dogs have never gone home with ticks.
