Claim to Fame
Geoff Larcom, “EMU vs. U-M in Squirrel Showdown” • Mon Oct 15 2007
Geoff Larcom of The Ann Arbor News interviews Squirrel Club Duke Jason Colman about the fat, fearless squirrels of U-M.
Older NewerThe headline was ominous.
“Ypsi squirrels aren’t scared of s---” read the title above the Facebook group of Eastern Michigan University students.
The group is for people who are becoming “increasingly more worried about the lack of timidity in Ypsilanti area squirrels.”
“I think I’m being followed,” read one post from a student who was walking toward the Campus Eateries.
Another said a squirrel tried to run away with her backpack.
A third student claimed a squirrel threw a nut at her.
That, I had to see.
I cut my squirrel teeth as a student on the University of Michigan’s Diag, a gantlet of fearless rodents. So bright-eyed and bushy-tailed are the Diag denizens that a master’s student named Jason Colman founded the U-M Squirrel Club in 2002. The group still meets to feed, observe and admire the critters.
Why does Colman do it? “I just like squirrels,” he says. “They’re cute and fun. You can’t really have pets when you are an undergrad. It’s nice to have some interaction with animals.”
That, in a nutshell, echoes my thinking.
Still, the fur can fly on the Diag. Colman recalls when a squirrel jumped onto his lap and tried to steal his turkey sandwich. Despite his fondness for the little dudes, he shooed the squirrel away. “It was my sandwich,” Colman says, still indignant. “He can have a peanut.”
Two campuses, two tales of terrorizing squirrels. Which is scarier? It was time for some comparative fieldwork.
First, I needed background. Enter Phil Myers, an associate professor and curator of mammals in the U-M Museum of Zoology.
He said that squirrels are now busy stashing away nuts for the winter and putting on fat. They are actually more aggressive in early spring and summer, when they breed, Myers said.
Because of all the friendly, food-toting humans on the two campuses, the squirrels get very tame. But Myers says you shouldn’t get too buddy-buddy with Barry D. Walnut and friends. “Any wild animal is likely to bite if it feels threatened,” he said. “… You could be feeding it, and it could turn around and nail you. So don’t do it.”
Mindful of that advice, I slowly approached about 10 squirrels on the EMU campus. Most would allow me within about five feet before ascertaining I had nothing of value. They disdainfully hopped away toward a tree or other cover, maintaining their distance.
The Diag was different. I got within about three feet of several squirrels before inducing any movement. One saw me creeping up and quickly turned around, rearing up on its hind legs. “Whatcha got for me, big fella?” he/she seemed to be saying.
It was an easy call. EMU squirrels might not be scared of s---, but the Diag remains the area’s gold standard for furry fearlessness.
It must be all those people who are funneling through the relatively closed-in space of the Diag. At EMU, there’s more room to spread out, which means that blogging students who warn of the “Squirrelpocalypse” can rest easy and bury their fears.
