Where do squirrels go when they die?
No, I don't mean that Franciscan question of whether or not animals go to heaven or hell. I mean physically, where are all the squirrel corpses? Laying aside for the moment all the squirrels I've seen run over then left as roadkill, I have never, not even once, seen a dead squirrel carcass. Isn't that weird?
Has anyone else? Where do they go? This is truly astonishing to me that, although I've seen small land mammals like squirrels, possums, and raccons alive many times, I've never actually seen one dead.
It's not like we have lots of other predators in metropolitan areas to kill, eat, and scatter their bones mercilessly... do they eat the remains of each other? Do raccoons eat the dead squirrels? I must know!
Comments
I've seen a dead squirrel on a sidewalk. But I think the racoon hypothesis explains why we see so few of them.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 12, 2006 1:33 PM
I woke up today wondering the same thing. I mean, I will see dead birds from time to time...no squirrels. Where do they go?
Posted by: leah164 | July 15, 2008 9:09 AM
I found one squirrel in my backyard, lying next to some spare plant pots and a bag of potting soil. It's far from any road, so I'm assuming that's where she chose to die.
Posted by: Eugenie | October 8, 2008 5:10 PM
I think when squirrels are ready to die they run out in the street in front of a car to commit suicide
Posted by: josie | October 16, 2008 1:39 PM
They get stored for the winter.
Another theory is that they join the cult and the space-ship takes them up. :-)
Posted by: Sylvia | November 24, 2008 11:26 PM
I have wondered the same thing and do believe that they commit suicide in the roadway when death comes for them. I also wonder where is all the Squirrle poop? I have never seen any droppings, nor have I ever witnessed one using the potty.
Posted by: BJ | January 12, 2009 4:44 PM
I'm pretty sure predator birds, snakes, bugs, etc polish off the remains.
Posted by: kim | April 29, 2009 1:31 PM