UNE鈥檚 environmental studies professor Noah Perlut lends expertise for video on squirrel behavior

A gray squirrel tagged with a radio collar by 51品茶Associate Professor Noah Perlut as part of his squirrel research project. Phot
A gray squirrel tagged with a radio collar by 51品茶Associate Professor Noah Perlut as part of his squirrel research project. Photo by John Ewing/Portland Press Herald

Noah Perlut, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, was a guest on a recent episode of 鈥淣ature Moments,鈥 a weekly series of brief videos produced in partnership by the Audubon Society and Bowdoin Professor Nat Wheelwright, Ph.D.

Perlut, a squirrel expert, joined Wheelwright for a video titled 鈥淥utsmarting Squirrels,鈥 which explored some of the reasons why gray squirrels, with brains the size of ping pong balls, continuously beat humans in their quest to squirrel-proof their bird feeders.

According to the video, a squirrel鈥檚 keen memory combines with its climbing and chewing abilities as well as its dexterity to render it highly capable of getting into places that humans take great pains to prevent them from accessing.  But squirrels鈥 social skills are also crucial to their ability to outsmart humans. 鈥淭hey are such social animals, and they spend so much time watching their world,鈥 said Perlut. Observant, experimental and persistent by nature, gray squirrels are well suited to work around obstacles meant to keep them from getting to bird seed.

鈥淭hey are hard to beat in some ways,鈥 said Perlut, 鈥渂ut isn鈥檛 that the admirable quality that makes them so wonderful to interact with in your yard?鈥

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Noah Perlut
Noah Perlut