The iconic Dunn's Woods Squirrels

Indiana University has a reputation for its squirrels. Undoubtedly, the little creatures look the same as any other Indiana squirrels. Though, their behavior is a different story. I live relatively close to Bloomington, IN. The squirrels in my hometown are rather squeamish and do not enjoy human presence. I have grown up with the notion that squirrels are always scared of humans. The squirrels on the Indiana Univesity campus (particularly in Dunn's Woods) are comfortable and like to interact with humans. I was caught off guard when two of the animals approached me! I quickly learned that the IU squirrels have acquired these strange behaviors because people like to feed them. In an article written by Marc Orams (2002), he explains why feeding wildlife, in general, may be harmful to the animal. "Since the search for and securing of food dominates so much of an animals’ time and energy budget, a change to human-provided food often results in a major change in the amount of time and effort directed by the provisioned animal to obtaining food" (p. 285). Hopefully sooner rather than later, an initiative will be started to help resolve the issue.

Reference
Orams, M. B. (2002). Feeding wildlife as a tourism attraction: a review of issues and impacts. Tourism management, 23(3), 281-293.

Posted on August 14, 2020 09:38 PM by isaacgray1