Sunday, September 25, 2005

Divination Squirrel Appears Once Again

3 comments:

J C said...

note the beautiful colors...warm grey, naples yellow, maybe some umbers in the squirrel. Nature kicks ass. Even if it is a tree rat. I saw a squirrel running around with a Molson Dry bottle cap in its mouth yesterday.

J C said...

What? You don't like rats? Call an animal another animals name, is that a 'dis'?(you kid's and your slang!)

I was merely saying that much like rats, squirrels abandon their party or associates in times of trouble. Notice they always dart in different directions?

And yet I find both animals quite noble, and sometimes more noble than humans.

But...Give me an example where a Rat helps another Rat. Or a Squirrel helps another squirrel. It's every squirrel for itself these days. Give me that nut! Stop chasing me! Get out of my tree!

Selfish, rat-like behaviour.

And humans, are both creative and mighty when it comes to destroying their planet. Much more than any other animal, that's for sure.

(all while chewing on my tuna sandwich)

D.Macri said...

Whe I lived in manning park there was an interesting squirrel/rat comparison. Everyone (tourists) loved the East Columbian ground Squirrels, who were actually from the rat family. They followed highway trucks into the park and arent naturally found there, They are kind of gross little things, they are getting out of hand and don't have any natural predators. They eat their young, attack humans, and are generally dirty little critters. Still tourist loved them, and fed them peanuts and clicked and chirped back at them, even when their fingers were bleeding from little rat teeth.

On the otherhand. The "pack rats" found in staff housing and the other buildings on the resort, are actually from the squirrel family. Everyone hated them and poisoned them or trapped them, and tried many ways to eradicate them (kill them). Stangely enough the pack rats (rally squirrels, remember) were natives to the park, and an important part of the ecosystem, and have been there alot longer than humans. Despite the fact they are in a provincial park, that 'protects' all it's wildlife, they were hunted down at every turn. And all because of a name. They are cute as heck, smart as heck and even helpfull in terms of nature, but just because some scientist somewhere called them a rat, they get no respect. I wonder how things would happen if it was ""east Columbian Ground Rats" and "Pack Squirrels". I guess expectations does in part define perception.