California ground squirrels “wear” snake perfume! They chew up shed rattlesnake skins and lick the mash onto their fur and their babies’ fur. Smelling like a snake may help them hide from snakes! 🐍

They can heat up their tails like a warning light! Rattlesnakes can “see” body heat. Ground squirrels can pump warm blood into their tails, heating them by up to 12°F! By waving their warm tails, they tell the snake “I see you,” which often makes the snake back off. 🔥

Flying squirrels glow pink! Under a UV light, North American flying squirrels shine bubblegum pink! Scientists aren’t sure why. Bonus: northern flying squirrels can glide 300 feet, the length of a football field! 💗

Arctic ground squirrels hold the record for the coldest mammal! While hibernating, their body temperature drops to 26°F! That’s colder than ice water! How they keep from freezing is still a mystery! 🥶

Some squirrels sort their food! Fox squirrels bury almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, and walnuts in separate areas. And they bury a lot: one squirrel can bury up to 3,000 nuts in a single fall! 🥜

Squirrels have shut down the stock market! In 1987, a squirrel caused a power outage that knocked out NASDAQ’s trading computers for almost 90 minutes. And it happened again in 2014! 📉

Groundhogs are squirrels! Groundhogs, chipmunks, prairie dogs, and marmots are all part of the squirrel family, which has about 280 species total. 🐿️

The biggest squirrel is as long as a yardstick! The Indian giant squirrel can stretch 3 feet long from nose to tail! The smallest squirrel, the African pygmy squirrel, is small enough to fit in your hand. It’s only 3-5 inches long, about the size of a crayon! 🖍️

They could survive a fall from any height (in theory)! Squirrels are so light and fluffy that when they fall, they spread out and the air slows them down. They quickly reach their top falling speed, called terminal velocity, and it’s too slow to badly hurt them. 🍂

They have whiskers on their legs! Squirrels have sensitive whiskers on their faces and legs. These help them feel their way through tight spaces, especially in the dark! 🌙