Squirrels (was RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Turtles and iBooks)

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 12 Jun 2001, Neil Bradshaw wrote:

> I've never seen a squirrel chase a human, though. That's pretty funny.
> What would you do if that happened? You couldn't climb a tree, they
> run faster than most people I know, and they're really agile. Fear the
> squirrels.

Say, that would make a really great TV commercial...oh wait: it's already
been done. :-)  I don't know whether you should fear squirrels, but it
turns out you should respect their visuo-motor systems; the problem of
running along tree trunks and branches at high speeds is by no means a
trivial one.

But my favorite squirrels are the ones (a subspecies?) that live in and
around the parks of Boston.  I swear, and it's not entirely implausible,
that these guys have been naturally selected for cuteness. They definitely
have cuter (rounder, more babyish) features than most squirrels, and they
all have adopted this hyper-cute "lope up to the human and sit on your
haunches with your little arms tucked in" begging posture that must be
seen to be believed.  Columbia definitely has more of the "let's whack
that cat" variety.

jking


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