23 Dec 2020 Share:
Never rattle at your neighbours, killing them could endanger your health. if you re a red squirrel.
Have you ever seen more than one squirrel together anywhere except an artificial feeding station? They are not the most social creatures. However, even the anti-social squirrel benefits from getting along with its neighbours according to research carried out by a researcher at the University of Exeter.
Image: A North American red squirrel
Credit: Dr Erin Siracusa
Living beside familiar neighbours boosts a squirrel s chances of survival and successful breeding, new research shows.
The study measured year-to-year survival of North American red squirrels - and found keeping the same neighbours was so beneficial that it outweighed the negative effects of growing a year older.
(CN) As neighbors go, the devil you know may be better than the one you don’t.
Take the North American red squirrel, a solitary and territorial creature that is one of three species of tree squirrels. Also called chickarees, red squirrels are larger than chipmunks and defend their year-round territories fiercely.
But a new study finds that red squirrels have a higher chance of survival and more offspring when living near long-term neighboring red squirrels. For this species, the length of time the same squirrels lived next to each other increased their chance of survival, sharply offsetting the effects of aging.
A squirrel’s chances of survival and successful breeding are improved if it lives next to familiar neighbours, researchers say.
A study measured year-to-year survival of North American red squirrels – and found keeping the same neighbours was so beneficial that it outweighed the negative effects of growing a year older.
However, researchers found that living near genetic neighbours did not improve survival rates.
Lead author Dr Erin Siracusa, of the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter, said: “These squirrels are solitary – each defending a territory with a ‘midden’ (food stash) at the centre – so we might assume they don’t co-operate.”
Credit: Andrew McAdam
Living beside familiar neighbours boosts a squirrel s chances of survival and successful breeding, new research shows.
The study measured year-to-year survival of North American red squirrels - and found keeping the same neighbours was so beneficial that it outweighed the negative effects of growing a year older.
However, living near genetic relatives did not improve survival rates.
The research - part of the Kluane Red Squirrel Project - used 22 years of data on squirrels in Yukon, Canada, within the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. These squirrels are solitary - each defending a territory with a midden (food stash) at the centre - so we might assume they don t cooperate, said lead author Dr Erin Siracusa, of the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter.
Everybody needs good neighbours and for North American red squirrels, having friends next door from year-to-year improves the odds of survival and reproduction.
UK experts studying squirrels in the Yukon, Canada, found that keeping the same neighbours was so beneficial it outweighed the drawbacks of getting a year older.
Squirrels that live in adjacent territories in successive years appear to grow to trust each other meaning that they end up spending less time defending their territory.
This, in turn, frees up more time to gather food and raise young.
In contrast, living near relatives did seem to not improve the red squirrel s survival rates but this could be an artefact of their study s sample area, the team said.