<a href="http://news.aol.com/story/_a/squirrels-heat-tails-for-defense/20070815080809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001">http://news.aol.com/story/_a/squirrels-heat-tails-for-defense/20070815080809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001</a>
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<h1>Squirrels Heat Tails for Defense</h1>
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<div class="bbarticleByline bbarticleText"><font color="#666666" size="2">By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID,</font></div>
<div class="bbarticleCreditLine bbarticleText"><font color="#666666" size="2">AP</font></div>
<div class="bbarticleDateLastModified bbarticleText">Posted: 2007-08-15 09:23:21</div>
<div class="bbarticleFiledUnder bbarticleText">Filed Under: <a href="http://news.aol.com/science"><font color="#2b65b0">Science News</font></a></div>
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<div class="bbarticleText">WASHINGTON (Aug. 14) - California <span class="ra_cword_wrap" title="" onclick="drambuie.roll_obj=this;drambuie.ra_startTime("ground%2Bsquirrels","news","2","0","",true);" onmouseout="drambuie.ra_stopTime();">
<a class="ra_cword" href="javascript:;"><font color="#2b65b0">ground squirrels</font></a><span class="ra_icon"> </span></span> have learned to intimidate rattlesnakes by heating their tails and shaking them aggressively.
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<div class="bbarticleText">Because the snakes, which are ambush hunters, can sense infrared radiation from heat, the warming makes the tails more conspicuous to them — signaling that they have been discovered and that the squirrels may come and harass them, explained Aaron Rundus, lead author of a study in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
<br><br>The tail "flagging" places the snakes on the defensive, he said. <br><br>Adult squirrels are not the snakes' prey, Rundus said in a telephone interview. The adults have a protein in their blood that allows them to survive the snake venom, and they have been known to attack and injure snakes, biting and kicking gravel at them.
<br><br>Rather, the snakes are looking for immature squirrels, which they can kill and eat, said Rundus, who did the research while at the Animal Behavior Graduate Group at the University of California, Davis. <br><br>Researchers are not sure just how the squirrels cause their tails to heat up, but they think it may be by shunting warm blood from the body core into the tail.
<br><br>"It's such a new discovery that it leaves a lot of questions," he said. <br><br>But apparently it isn't just a reflex, because they only do it with rattlesnakes. <br><br>Confronted by gopher snakes, which can't sense heat, the squirrels wave their tails vigorously, but don't bother to heat them up.
<br><br>So how did they discover that the squirrels heat their tails? <br><br>The researchers were studying how squirrels reacted to various predators and noticed that with rattlesnakes they waved their tails even more in dark conditions than in the light.
<br><br>That prompted the researchers to view the encounters using an infrared camera, and they discovered the squirrels' tails were much warmer than normal when dealing with rattlesnakes. <br><br>Learning more about these complex communication methods among animals may help improve understanding of how complex human communications have evolved, Rundus said.
<br><br>He said it serves as a reminder that to understand more about animal life, we need to pay close attention to how animals act. "There is potentially a lot going on out there that we're not aware of," he said.
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<div class="bbarticleText">Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett<br> </div></div><br>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/15/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Carl Westberg</b> <<a href="mailto:carlwestberg846@hotmail.com">carlwestberg846@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">"I hate it when squirrels do that." Not as much as the squirrel does.<br>Speaking of squirrels, that reminds me of the friendly squirrels on the U of
<br>I campus, and I'm glad to report the students are back. Yesterday afternoon<br>I witnessed the ancient, annual mating ritual known as fraternity/sorority<br>rush. The primping, the preening, the hair toss, the checking of make up.
<br>And the young ladies were doing the same thing. Carl Westberg Jr.<br><br><br>>From: Craine Kit <<a href="mailto:kcraine@verizon.net">kcraine@verizon.net</a>><br>>To: Dan Carscallen <<a href="mailto:areaman@moscow.com">
areaman@moscow.com</a>><br>>CC: <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Fried squirrel, anyone?<br>>Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:19:06 -0700<br>><br>>I hate it when squirrils do that. Jangles my nerves. Our power went
<br>>off then on just before I heard the faint boom. It was down just long<br>>enough so I had to reset the TV box and the clocks. You'd think their<br>>mothers would teach them not to touch two wires at the same time!
<br>><br>>Kit Craine<br>><br>><br>>On Aug 15, 2007, at 9:18 AM, Dan Carscallen wrote:<br>><br>> > If you heard the "BOOM" over on the east side of town about 0845 or<br>> > so, a transformer near the intersection of Harold and Nez Perce
<br>> > blowed up real good, possibly from a squirrel having a<br>> > misadventure. There are some outages at the moment, but Avista is<br>> > on the way.<br>> ><br>> > DC<br>> > ==============================
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