Squirrel Interrupted

Jacob Korte - UNT History Major

Today at the Mandala I had decided to view a large cottonwood tree, essentially trying to figure out why it looks the way it does. While I was viewing it a fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) started running all along the branches with no logical reasoning behind what it was doing. I assumed it was either trying to find food or possibly a mate, although after doing some research on the fox squirrel this isn’t a normal time for it to be mating since they mate in mid-December and not again until June. When the squirrel unsuccessfully found what it was looking for it ran about 60 or 70 feet away to an oak tree and started looking around, it didn’t take long however before a pair of squirrels emerged from the tree and eventually chased my squirrel away. The squirrel I was viewing came back to the cottonwood, for a couple minutes it disappeared from sight before reemerging. However as soon as I caught sight of it again it was scampering off to a slightly smaller tree about 15 feet further than the oak tree it had gone to. One of the two squirrels from the oak jumped across the branches and started watching my squirrel, most likely to protect the oak that it came from and keep the squirrel from coming back. After climbing back down the tree the squirrel began to dig around in the dirt just at the base of the trunk.

Around this time Dr. Wolverton drew my attention to some mistletoe which was growing out of the cottonwood, it turns out that mistletoe is a parasite that grows out of a host tree from which it takes nutrients. This was very surprising as I never would have expected mistletoe to be a parasitic plant that can potentially kill the host tree. 

Looking back to the squirrel I discover it is in a new area climbing around on a group of crape myrtles; I guess it must have found something good since it took the time to come back to the cottonwood and disappear again. This squirrel has piqued my curiosity, I have yet to see where it goes to once it gets onto the cottonwood and even after I walked around the cottonwood I have yet to find any trace of the squirrel. After a brief period of time however the squirrel is running to a new location and begins to dig around through some mulch and woodchips. Now that I don’t risk scaring it off I can get much closer to the tree for more inspection. On the far side of the tree about 8 feet up there is a branch which is growing relatively straight up in close proximity to the trunk, and in this area there is a hollow that can barely be made out and seems to be well protected from the elements. There is a high probability that this is the squirrel’s home, and it has been running across its habitat trying to gather food, as gathering appears to be this squirrel’s niche.