Clever Monkeys

[steenkh]

I don't think a human has ever gotten rabies from a squirrel and squirrels themselves hardly every acquire it.

When I was in New York for the first time, I was also hand feeding the squirrels in Central Park, but the locals warned us of rabies. It seems to be a persistent claim.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

When I was in New York for the first time, I was also hand feeding the squirrels in Central Park, but the locals warned us of rabies. It seems to be a persistent claim.

Just to make sure I have my fact straight:

https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/animals/other.html

Small rodents like squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, and mice) and lagomorphs including rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and have not been known to transmit rabies to humans.

 

[arthwollipot]

Good to know. Through strict quarantine procedures, we have managed not to have rabies in Australia. We do have a bat lyssavirus, which is related, but no actual rabies.

 

[Chanakya]

This thread reminded me of that old Buddhist story about the monkey trap.

When I first heard that story, it sounded to me like a made-up story -- although I don't know that, and it could be true for all I know.

 

[Jim_MDP]

But carry leprosy!



https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/could-squ...ntributed-england’s-medieval-leprosy-outbreak

I thought that was just armadillolololos. [emoji1]

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

This thread reminded me of that old Buddhist story about the monkey trap.

When I first heard that story, it sounded to me like a made-up story -- although I don't know that, and it could be true for all I know.

Finally, something that might bring the Mythbusters back.

 

[novaphile]

Apologies if I've shared it before, but I was robbed by a squirrel gang once...

Outside the Admiralty museum in London, I stopped because a squirrel had scampered across the park, stopped in front of me and started pawing at the air, while standing on its back legs...

I crouched down to see what it was doing, and there was a sudden commotion in my pocket. Before I'd realised what was happening, the pair of squirrels had raced across the park and scampered up a tree with my bag of trail mix.

Cheeky little grey bastards.

There were a lot of squirrels scampering around that park, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have been the only person that was robbed in this fashion.

 

[Planigale]

Apologies if I've shared it before, but I was robbed by a squirrel gang once...

Outside the Admiralty museum in London, I stopped because a squirrel had scampered across the park, stopped in front of me and started pawing at the air, while standing on its back legs...

I crouched down to see what it was doing, and there was a sudden commotion in my pocket. Before I'd realised what was happening, the pair of squirrels had raced across the park and scampered up a tree with my bag of trail mix.

Cheeky little grey bastards.

There were a lot of squirrels scampering around that park, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have been the only person that was robbed in this fashion.

Pretty sure no one has ever been mugged by a koala, of course grey squirrels are all immigrants that is why Brexit was essential!

(Except of course the thieving immigrant grey squirrels pushing the law abiding if lepromatous native British red squirrel out of hearth and home (or at least tree and drey) are American immigrants. Nothing to do with Brexit, but we are obliged to mention Brexit in all threads.)

Of course they have nothing on Kea for criminality.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/39831/police-unlikely-to-catch-thieving-kea

 

[rjh01]

Pretty sure no one has ever been mugged by a koala, of course grey squirrels are all immigrants that is why Brexit was essential!
<snip>

You must never have heard about the drop bears in Australia. They need to be avoided. Here is a YouTube explaining the dangers to migrents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kev9VNGCLdc

 

[The Greater Fool]

Imagine my surprise as a youth seeing signs posted in the Angeles and Sierra National forests (CA, USA) warning of Bubonic plague. They are still there.

Basically "Stay away from the cute creatures..."

 

[dann]

This is incredible!

It might be to be an adaptation after the lockdowns everywhere meant their tourist feeding them dried up, except it looks like it started years before.

ETA: it's easy to see how this evolved. Macaque steals tourist item, tourist tries to lure them back with food.

... and the macaque prefers food, can't carry both, so it leaves the 'stolen' item.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

This thread reminded me of that old Buddhist story about the monkey trap.

When I first heard that story, it sounded to me like a made-up story -- although I don't know that, and it could be true for all I know.

As I kid I heard the same story about trapping racoons.

 

[dann]

Some years ago the park in Merrion Square in Dublin had a squirre, a grey with a white patch on his tail, quite distinctive, who learned to pose for tourist photos.
He'd perch on a large chunk of granite, near the Wilde statue, and stand still there in exchange for food.

Some squirrels seem to have something akin to 'punishment for breach of contract'.
30 years ago or so, if you squatted beneath a certain tree in my local park with nuts in your hand, squirrels would come down and pick them out of your hand. I wanted to demonstrate that to a friend of mine, but had forgotten to bring nuts, so I squatted beneath the tree, pretending to have food. Soon a squirrel came down, looked at my empty hand, grabbed hold of my middle finger, bit it (not hard) and fled back up the tree again.
Never got rabies!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Imagine my surprise as a youth seeing signs posted in the Angeles and Sierra National forests (CA, USA) warning of Bubonic plague. They are still there.

Basically "Stay away from the cute creatures..."

Stay away from ground squirrels and jack rabbits. They have infected fleas. I saw a case in a human when I lived in Colorado.