The gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, is a creature that is very well known across Rice University for being a little too friendly with Rice students. The squirrels here seem to have habituated themselves to a certain lifestyle here that has reduced their levels of alertness and actually changed the way that the squirrels here on campus forage for food.
Rice Squirrel with a Waffle. Courtesy of ricesquirrels.tumblr.com
Upon watching the gray squirrels, I realized that the squirrels here at Rice are the same species of the squirrels that I have observed living around my home, which happens to be a mere 30 minutes from Rice, however, they have striking differences. The squirrels that I noticed here at Rice were very bold. They seemed to be quite comfortable being out in the open, which is quite different from the rest of their species. Since the gray squirrel is predominantly a tree squirrel, you would their instincts should tell them to run up the tree from any imminent danger (Thompson 1978). Even outside of Rice, the gray squirrel doesn’t seem to have a huge problem with predation, so it might explain why they’re so calm while on campus (Goodrum 1978). However, the squirrels at Rice were hardly deterred by anything walking past them. In fact, on two occasions while watching these squirrels, I observed them actually going up to plates of food that remained undisturbed, even with humans sitting next to it, and take food. Some squirrels were even so daring that some of them took food from a student’s hand! It didn’t seem like the squirrels were really foraging for what would seem like the “normal squirrel food,” but instead trying acting more like scavengers and stealing “human” food. Additionally, for squirrels that are traditionally supposed to spend a lot of time in trees, these squirrels spent a lot of time on the ground. I observed the squirrels for about an hour and a half, and the squirrels spent about half the time on the ground or at tables foraging for food, and the other half of the time either eating their goodies from students’ plates or seemingly scouting out their next food expedition.
I do not think that the gray squirrels’ at Rice behavior is inherited, but that it is learned. Most gray squirrels outside of campus are very wary of all other organisms, especially humans. It seems as though the squirrels here at Rice have learned from watching other squirrels as well as the lack of predators and competition, to be more relaxed. Most squirrels have a certain average distance at which they would avoid contact, and based on data, it seems as though the distance for these squirrels is much closer (Dill 1989). However, there is still a little evidence of their evolutionary instinct to run from different dangers. It seems that the younger, or new squirrels, are still a little wary of human interactions.
From what I’ve observed and read, animal behavior seems to really just be based off of a series of the following: the traits and behaviors that animals inherit from their parents, the behaviors that animals learn from their surroundings, and how animals are affected by the environment around them and how they respond to the changes around them. The gray squirrels at Rice University have seemed to show all of these qualities. In the grand scheme of animal behavior, the gray squirrel still portrays all aspects of animal behavior as the group of this species at Rice have kept some of their natural instincts, while learning and adjusting to the environment that they have been placed in at Rice.
References:
Dill, L. M., and Houtman R. 1989. The influence of distance to refuge on flight initiation distance in the gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Can. J. Zool., 67: 233 – 235.
Goodrum, Phil D. 1940. A population study of the gray squirrel in eastern Texas. Bulletin, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, 591: 1-34.
Thompson, D.C. 1978. The social system of the grey squirrel. Behaviour, Vol. 64 (3/4): 305-328.