We all know squirrels love nuts, seeds and grains — filling their cheeks with the day’s foraging. But a new study by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the University of California, Davis, suggests the eating habits of California ground squirrels could be shifting.
According to a release from UC Davis , widespread carnivorous behavior has been documented for the first time among squirrels just outside the San Francisco area.
What have ground squirrels been hunting?
The study, published in the Journal of Ethology, provides evidence that ground squirrels are hunting and eating voles, which are small rodents. It suggests that these squirrels may be opportunistic omnivores, rather than focusing solely on a diet of seeds and other plant materials.
The shift in behavior was observed earlier this year at Briones Regional Park northeast of Berkeley, where a long-term project focused on ground squirrels began in 2013 . Of 74 interactions the squirrels had with voles between June and July, 42% involved active hunting, UC Davis said. Jennifer Smith, the study’s lead author and associate professor of biology at UW-Eau Claire, said, “This was shocking. We had never seen this behavior before.”