Why do squirrels bark?
Barking is an animal behavior commonly known among dogs. However,that is not just dogs that are able to bark. There are various kinds of wild animals that do bark which includes species of birds, monkeys, deer, and squirrels. But, why do animals bark? There is just one general answer to this phenomenon and that is to ward off predators and deal with conflict according to Kathryn Lord.
Lord is an alumna of Hampshire College, taking her Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst under the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. She and her co-researchers conducted the first ever scientific study and lecture with regard to barking as an ordinary animal sound, its definition as well as its function. And although Lord and her colleagues primarily centered on identifying a dog’s barking behavior, they were able to come up with a general conclusion why animals bark and that is to protect them from an approaching danger, they bark to give off warning or scare the nearby predators.
In the case of squirrels, there are reported incidents, complaints, and even videos taken as a proof that squirrels do bark, or at least sounds like barking. While other people are being amazed, often times frightened, by the sounds that a squirrel can make, experienced hunters used it to hunt those bushy tailed rodent and termed it as squirrel call
Squirrels are able to create an assortment of sounds, like a raspy barking coupled by a squeal near the end or a clucking or chucking sounds similar to that of birds, whenever they are alarmed. This usually occur when squirrels are surprised by the presence of human in their territory, they then accompany their barking with the swishing of their tail and continuous up and down sprints on whatever tree they are on. Squirrels in the wild also bark to warn other squirrels of nearby threats.
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