California ground squirrels hunt, kill and eat voles, reveals a study by UC Davis and UW-Eau Claire, sharing the first evidence of widespread carnivorous behavior among squirrels.

You fucked with squirrels, Morty!

  • LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    40·
    9 months ago

    Arent most/all rodents omnivorous? They might prefer to eat only grains or what not, but if pushed to starvation will readily eat meat to survive?

    Edit- Seems I missed what’s remarkable about this, is they are actively hunting the Voles, not just being opportunistic.

    • its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      11·
      9 months ago

      A lot of herbivores will eat meat when starving or stressed. Or just if the happen upon easily accessible meat. Most animals aren’t confined to only one food source. To be a omnivore, they need to regularly seek out, consume, and digest both plant and animal parts. Wolves eat grass sometimes, but they can’t digest it.

      This study is crazy because there are multiple individuals showing this behavior. Not to mention they are actively hunting the voles. Indicating that this behavior wasn’t opportunistic. Which is really cool! Though, a squirrel with the appetite of a shrew sounds terrifying.

    • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      9 months ago

      Yes, they are omnivores.

      Rodents don’t need to be pushed to starvation, but nuts and plants and small insects are safer to forage for compared to hunting something large enough to fight back. So if they can easily get what they need from available plant sources, they will choose that first.

      • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        This is true for a lot of forager type animals. Chickens will kill and eat mice if they can. I’ve even seen videos of horses snacking on baby chickens.

  • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    9 months ago

    This is well known. Red squirrels are the largest predators of baby rabbits.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    Since when is this new? Squirrels have been eating meat for ages. Primarily insects. Go on YT and look for “Hornet King”. At the end of his videos, he often feeds the hornets’ larvae to chicken and (drumroll!) squirrels.