Do Squirrels Respect Squirrel-Urine? [Archive]

RachelArcher

10-15-2007, 07:14 AM

Dear all,

Hi again, time for another silly question because I can't think of a better place to come and ask such, lol.

The three young-adult black squirrels, siblings, have left the fleece-blanket drey on my windowsill. No one lives there now. But a local grey squirrel (fully adult and female) as well as the three siblings, all four of em still come around in the morning, midday and early evening for food. It's become a hot spot, lol.

Anyway, I've now determined that one of the black squirrels is definitely male, since he has the anatomy and I saw him putting it to use ... urinating a bit onto the blanket after he realized he would not be able to eat the entire huge pile of plain Cheerios I had put out (have to go to the grocery store for more almonds, served the last of 'em last night). The pile is right next to the blanket where he urinated. He also then urinated some on the window ledge before crawling off.

Now my question is: are the other squirrels (his siblings and the grey girl) going to respect this territorial marking thing with his urine and stay away now??? Or can I continue to expect and enjoy their company (and possibly expect them to do the same as he did, lol)???

I realize this isn't on the same level of importance as "Baby Squirrel's Head Is Falling Off, Duct Tape Isn't Holding, Help!" lol :crazy :D , but I'd appreciate knowing all the same. Thanks in advance!

:thankyou :grouphug

Fondly,

Rachel :)

4skwerlz

10-15-2007, 07:44 AM

I realize this isn't on the same level of importance as "Baby Squirrel's Head Is Falling Off, Duct Tape Isn't Holding, Help!"

:rotfl So funny in a very sick way.......:D

Squirrels do sometimes seem to pee on things to mark them, but other squirrels will walk right through the pee a minute later, so I'm not sure what the message is. On the other hand, sometimes the "message" in the pee will be different depending on the squirrel's condition (ready to breed), so who knows what your guy was "saying." Squirrels also have numerous scent glands which they use to mark where they've been. Here's an excerpt from an article about a study that was done on scent marking in squirrels:

http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060130/squirrel_print.html

Like humans, squirrels must first be familiar with an individual before an odor can become associated with that other animal...."Squirrels need to be familiar with others to be able to put all of an individual's odors into a representation of that individual, as if repeated interactions make that individual meaningful, and thus worthy of remembering at this level," explained Jill Mateo, who conducted the research.
Mateo, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago, told Animal Planet News that squirrels not only scent mark where they have been, but they also release odors from the mouth, ears, back, the bottom of their feet, and from their anal scent glands.
She first presented Belding's ground squirrels, Spermophilus beldingi, with each of these odors from different squirrels. Over time, squirrels became familiar with an odor and stopped sniffing it. When presented with a new odor from a different squirrel, the squirrel's interest piqued again.
Mateo explained that this means squirrels "produce unique odors and other squirrels can detect this difference."
Surprisingly, urine was not found to not be individually distinct. In other words, all of the other odors appear to convey information about individuals, but urine does not appear to carry this level of data, possibly because it contains too much waste material.
Mateo then presented her test squirrels with more than one odor from the same individual. After smelling one odor from that squirrel, the sniffers spent very little time investigating all other odors from that same animal, which indicates they could associate all of the smells with the one individual.
Mateo explained how humans do the same thing with all sorts of sensory cues.
"Think of someone you know," said Mateo. "Their eyes are familiar to you, their voice is familiar, their mouth may look familiar, but if you see or hear these stimuli, you don't think 'Sue's eyes' or 'Sue's voice,' you think 'Sue.' Due to your relationship with Sue, you put all of her characteristics into one representation in your mind — Sue."
She theorizes that animals besides squirrels and other rodents, such as birds, reptiles and other mammals, possess similar abilities.
For squirrels, smells seem to be more important when two animals are close to each other, but visual information kicks in over distances.
"Squirrels seem to know when someone cruising by is 'good' or 'bad,'" she said, and explained that squirrels might remember visual attributes, similar to how humans tend to remember faces.