Here you see an American Red Squirrel growling at me Saturday after going through his entire repertoire of angry condemnations -- barking, hissing, rattling, screeching, and snorting, among others. (Sex assumed.)
I had entered his territory and was receiving the same cursing any invader would receive. In fact, if I had been another red squirrel or chipmunk, I probably also would have been chased and bitten, if caught.
Pound-for-pound, the territorial courage and antisocial behavior of these seven-ounce cuties probably is not exceeded by any other wild mammal. Except for mating and the raising of squirrel “kittens” by females, red squirrels are territorial loners of the most antisocial type.
Unfortunately, red squirrels sometimes also can be audacious: They sometimes decide to declare human territory as theirs. They enter homes and other structures, use insulation for nests, and sometimes chew electrical wires to the danger point. When this happens, humans (another extremely territorial and often-angry species) consider them as pests and kill them with the blessing of the government.
Maine and many other states offer online information on how to control red squirrels around homes and allow hunters to shoot the animals in the woods in any season and in any number. Maybe that’s why red squirrels curse us when we dare to enter their home territory. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 22, 2022.)