By Tim Binnall
Scientists studying squirrels in California could not believe their eyes when they discovered that the normally herbivorous creatures had taken to hunting and eating small rodents. The remarkable finding reportedly came about during multi-year project wherein a population of the diminutive animals at Briones Regional Park were observed. During this past summer's survey, the scientist noticed that the creatures had begun hunting and eating voles, the hamster-like rodents that also live in the park. During an observation period of just 18 days, the researchers documented a staggering 74 instances of the murderous behavior exhibited by nearly 30 different squirrels.
"Once we saw it happening, it continued to happen again and again throughout the summer," marveled lead researcher Dr Jennifer Smith. As for why the squirrels had suddenly begun feasting on voles, the researchers theorize that the behavior was brought about by a sizeable increase in the population of the small rodents to the point that they became easy prey to the much-larger foraging animals. "It seems that these squirrels are just opportunistic," Smith mused, noting that the unique circumstances over the summer "really opened up the novel dietary niche for them." A similarly strange scientific observation occurred in 2021 when researchers were amazed to discover a normally vegetarian giant tortoise had begun hunting and eating baby birds.