Wild squirrel forms unusual relationship with a human

California ground squirrels in the wild only live two to three years she's at least 11 years old and you're still mad I'm Luanne and this is Miss Bonita's story for geobeats we moved into our house in 2012 and there was a squirrel in the backyard she would sit on top of the fence and stare at us and I felt slightly judged by her she was always there I had a busy corporate job and then one day I didn't have that job anymore I started working from home and that's when my eyes opened up to the world outside I started watching Miss Bonita more I began to understand how to provide resources for nature water for drinking or native plants I started to research What squirrels eat and this is when I discovered there are different types of squirrels hi Miss Bonita Miss Bonita is a California ground squirrel she lives in underground dens it's like a whole apartment complex each Den has a kitchen it has a sleeping quarters it has somewhere where they use the restroom where they store their food so it's literally like our places where we live but theirs is in the ground and that's what protects them I learned that California grounds girls eat vegetables whereas tree squirrels would not eat this and I was talking to a friend and she suggested maybe get a little closer to Miss Bonita hi Miss Bonita and I did miss Bonita allowed me to approach her and just stand right in front of her hi have been looking at each other and suddenly I was just inches from her and it was magical she's very different from the other squirrels she's very gentle when she takes something from my hand I can't feel her teeth on my skin she's been a mom every year since I've known her I don't try to form relationships with the babies I like that they have this great sense of caution Sledge is the baby daddy for Miss Bonita's little ones for the last couple years Sledge it's very muscular he has tons of scars he's missing part of his lip I know he's been in tons of fights but with her he's super gentle I've never seen any other male squirrels have the same relationship with her so I think she likes him once the females have had a baby they will chase the males off but she's allowed Sledge to stay in the general vicinity for the last two years and I find that remarkable what kind of agreement do they have why is he different you would think with all the babies that they have we'd have a thousand squirrels in the yard but somehow nature keeps its balance and Miss Bonita fortunately has stayed with us and we can learn through her what these life cycles are she's just always watching if there is a hawk she will emit a bark to let everyone else know that there's a predator but the vulture Scout who also hangs out in our backyard she is not worried about that tells me she knows a vulture is not going to go after her hi beautiful [Music] she's seeing these birds up in the air she can identify sometimes I have to really look is that a hawk or a vulture circling above me but she'll know and she also has specific calls like if the coyotes in the backyard I know by the way she barks that the coyotes here I'll look out the window and sure enough the coyotes walking through the backyard and then I wonder how much am I not picking up on how much are we missing because we don't have their senses she allows me to check her for ticks which I pulled off of her before put a little disinfectant on it really good about letting me do that good morning when I first go and see her in the morning and I say Miss Bonita she rubs her face to me that's showing like oh I'm happy to see you I'm gonna fix my fur like we might brush our hair when friends coming over and then she'll run down the hillside to see me sometimes she'll just sit there on her favorite spots and we sit together hi Miss Bonita hi if she wants something she uses my hand as sort of her reclining chair I don't Advocate feeding Wildlife from your hand I only started feeding Miss Bonita because I read that ground squirrels will live within a hundred yards of their den for their whole life so I didn't have to worry if I fed her from my hand that she would go to my neighbor's house and approach them and possibly get hurt right now she's putting on weight because I believe she's going to go into estivation estivation is the same thing as hibernation but it happens in hot weather so she'll go underground in extreme weather it's gone underground for up to six months at a time then she'll emerge when the weather is more favorable she's super skinny when she comes out and now I've learned when she comes out she wants romaine lettuce she doesn't want nuts Miss Bonita what are you gonna okay you want you want your lettuce and I think it's because romaine lettuce is full of water and fiber and vitamins and she'll just eat that for a couple days she can absolutely survive on her own but I always offer her a variety of things sometimes I'll give her something if she doesn't want it she just puts it down and she'll look at me [Music] so I bring a variety of things if she doesn't want what I'm offering to her I'm a strawberry no not so much what about a blueberry blueberry oh [Music] I know how old she is I worry about her but I try not to focus on that too much I'm so thankful every time I see her I find that the more you sit still and watch the deeper you go into this alternate universe it's right there when I do that I feel like you're tapping into some magical River of energy that is always flowing but we're too busy to pay attention to it [Music] Miss Bonita thank you for accepting me as her friend it's a gift that never gets old [Music]

Channel: GeoBeats Animals

Views: 488,306

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Id: cXKvsp-xrCk

Length: 6min 40sec (400 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 07 2023