One the wonderful things about wildlife watching is every day when you walk outside you have a chance of spotting an animal you have never seen before, or observing wildlife engaged in a behavior you have never witnessed. A few days ago, my daughter, Angela, saw a gray squirrel do something that she had never seen.
As far was my daughter is concerned, she sees squirrels in her backyard far too often. While she doesn’t have anything against the agile tree inhabitants, her major complaint is they eat more than their share of the seeds and suet she offers her bird neighbors. Then on top of that, they destroy her feeders. That being said, they engage in some fascinating behaviors. A few days ago, she witnessed a gray squirrel do something she had never seen before.
As she idly watched a squirrel scampering down the top of the 6-foot wood fence that stands along the backside of her yard, she noticed it was carrying a bone about four inches long and about the width of a nickel. It looked to be one of the bones left by her dog.
When she told me about the experience, I told her that she was probably correct since gray squirrels do eat bones. While gray squirrels devour a variety bones, they are particularly fond of those that are sun-bleached.
Gray squirrels dine bones for a couple of reasons. First of all, the bones help wear down their front teeth. This is necessary because these teeth continually grow throughout their lives. If the squirrels do not gnaw on hard bones the teeth will continue to grow and eventually curl and prevent the animals from eating.
The second reason is bones are an excellent source of much-needed calcium and phosphorus.
If you happen to see gray squirrels carrying or eating bones in your yard, you will know why they are engaged in this bizarre behavior.
Isn’t it amazing what you can see taking place just outside your backdoor?
One thought on “BACKYARD SECRET – GRAY SQUIRRELS EAT BONES”
Didn’t see the squirrel actually eat some, but did see it carry a bone off. I had laid a small vertebrae, about inch and a half by an inch by about 3/4 of an inch on the deck rail where the suet feeder is (hot pepper variety) and a bird bath. The squirrels often walk along that top rail to get to the bird bath, walking right past the hot suet. This time, one picked up the vertebrae I had just put there. He or she bit it and walked over to the bird bath then turned around, walked along the top deck rail and jumped to its nearby leaning pignut hickory and I never saw him after that. Interesting. Didn’t know they did that. Thanks!
Didn’t see the squirrel actually eat some, but did see it carry a bone off. I had laid a small vertebrae, about inch and a half by an inch by about 3/4 of an inch on the deck rail where the suet feeder is (hot pepper variety) and a bird bath. The squirrels often walk along that top rail to get to the bird bath, walking right past the hot suet. This time, one picked up the vertebrae I had just put there. He or she bit it and walked over to the bird bath then turned around, walked along the top deck rail and jumped to its nearby leaning pignut hickory and I never saw him after that. Interesting. Didn’t know they did that. Thanks!