Friday, February 5, 2021

Squirrels And Confrontations

 The grey squirrel is a common resident of a good part of North America. The accompanying panel places this in the Gatineau Hills. From the look of the Ottawa River, which is seen painted in the background, this is in fact at one of the lookouts along the Champlain Parkway, an area I'm quite familiar with.


This one features the Arctic ground squirrel.


How social are mammals? It depends on the species. It depends on the animal. A wolf is a highly social animal. So are herd animals like caribou or bison. Something like a wolverine will tend to be less social.


The next diorama is another big one, with a showdown between a pack dog and a group of muskoxen.

36 comments:

  1. Squirrels are really cute, we don't have them here though.

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  2. I like the squirrels, but they can be naughty too ...
    The musk ox are such hefty animals ... I have read that they weigh 225 to 400 kilograms! Wow!

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  3. Squirrels have a mission in life to thwart every squirrel-proof bird feeder - and they do it very well.

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  4. Hello,
    I like all the squirrels that are not in my yard. They are cute. The muskoxen are cool critters.
    Take care, enjoy your day!

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  5. @Amy: they are common here.

    @Ella: the musk oxen are formidable.

    @David: they are quite clever.

    @Eileen: I tend to see them raiding the neighbour's feeder.

    @Nancy: yes they are.

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  6. ...and my grey squirrels are getting fatter by the day at my bird feeders.

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  7. I'd rather deal with a squirrel than an muskox.

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  8. What a contrast between the small squirrels and the giant muskoxen.

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  9. I never did see an arctic ground squirrel during my time in the Arctic.

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  10. I see comments here about muskoxen being huge and terrible beasts. They have long thick wooly coats but they are only about waste high on me. They are not fierce but actually quite docile. I once was in a pen of ten calves that were being shipped south for some reason. You could easily walk among them and touch them.

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  11. I haven't see a squirrel in years, one since I moved here.

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  12. We have a lot of squirrels, in summer they are brown and in winter gray. And I also agree Tom..

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  13. I had never seen a grey squirrel unless I went visiting my son in London and saw them playing in the garden ! We only have the red once which a smaller and very shy.

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  14. Neat photos..
    Squirrels have decreased around the yard here.

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  15. Loved the photo of the squirrel! Tweeted

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  16. Nice photes from the museum!You inspire me!Thanx!

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  17. @RedPat: they have the numbers.

    @Tom: they're good at that.

    @Italiafinlandia: squirrels are squirrels!

    @Jan: I've seen a video of muskoxen around people. They seem fairly good natured, with a mind of their own.

    @Sharon: a huge contrast.

    @Red: I imagine the Arctic squirrel is more elusive.

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  18. @Marie: they can be.

    @Bill: we have two species, the grey (which comes in more than one colour) and the red.

    @Orvokki: here they don't shift colouration seasonally.

    @Gattina: the red ones we have here aren't seen over the winter. I imagine they stay in their dens entirely.

    @Maywyn: there's no shortage of them here.

    @Mari: thank you.

    @Anita: you're welcome.

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  19. Another fascinating display ~ great photos and you are inside staying warm ~ and safe.

    Moment by moment,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  20. I would not want to tangle with a musk ox.

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  21. Our squirrels are red. And get nasty when you don´t feed them, LOL. I saw one of them beating up my little scare crow. THAT was frustration and protest. It was not scared of the crow. Loss on my side (OK, it was a cute "scare crow", too).

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  22. I enjoy seeing the squirrels around here, both black and grey ones.

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  23. The dog is brave to challenge the musk oxen:)

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  24. They need a diorama of my squirrel hanging upside down as he munches from the suet feeder cage! They're clever, those squirrels!

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  25. would think it might be neat to see one in person. i have heard of them. ( ;

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