Carnivorous Squirrels: You must have seen squirrels. Their number is more in lush green parks or gardens. Although squirrels are very afraid of humans, they can be made your friends with love. A surprising news has come about this innocent creature that eats fruits, leaves and seeds.
According to reports, the squirrels that jump in trees and on the ground are becoming non-vegetarian. They are killing and eating small creatures. This has been seen in some parks of California, America, after which scientists are left wondering. He has also captured such incidents in his cameras, in which a small mouse-sized vole has been seen in the squirrel’s mouth. Reports say that squirrels hunt them and eat their meat.
Shocking study revealed
A study has been published in the Journal of Ethology about these innocent looking squirrels. According to this, students from the University of California and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire studied these squirrels in Briones Regional Park for 12 years. In this summer, for the first time, he noticed a surprising change in the squirrels. The students noticed that the squirrels were becoming carnivorous and were hunting other small creatures.
They hunt voles ruthlessly.
Generally, squirrels are vegetarians and they never attack small creatures, insects or bird eggs. However, the study says that here the squirrels started preying on rat-like creatures called voles and attacked them mercilessly. Squirrels bite the neck and head of the bat. After killing them, they scrape out the flesh from the bones and eat them. This sudden change in squirrels was surprising.
Changes made to control the number of voles
Scientists say that the number of voles in this park remains balanced. However, their number has increased significantly in the last few years. In such a situation, scientists came to the conclusion that squirrels made this change in themselves to defend themselves and to control the increasing number of voles and gradually became carnivores.