Kale chips turned my tree job into a squirrel convention

I brought some kale chips for a healthy snack during a long pruning job. Next thing I know, a bunch of squirrels swarmed me, trying to get to my lunch. How do you deal with curious animals when you're up in a tree?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

grantt117mo ago

Wait, you think they're going for the sound? I used to figure squirrels were all about the smell with food, but last week I had a bag of those veggie straws in my pocket, the crinkly bag, and had three of them following me branch to branch before I even opened it. Maybe they do key in on certain rustles after all.

10

lee_carr537mo ago

Kale chips probably mimic the sound of acorns to squirrels.

1

ben_hernandez7mo ago

The "mimic the sound" part is where this falls apart for me, @lee_carr53. Squirrels find food mostly by smell and sight, not really by listening for it. Acorns have a very specific hard shell sound when they drop or get cracked open. A baked kale chip is way lighter and makes a totally different, much quieter crinkle. It's a funny idea, but their main food finding tools are their nose and their eyes, not their ears. So the sound comparison just doesn't hold up.

2