Squirrels Say ...."Meow"?
"When the squirrels start talking, then we can get worried."
YLE nature programme audiences were surprised this week to find that squirrels can mew. Mikko Reuna of Raisio, near Turku in the south west, used his cellphone video camera to capture these strange sounds.
Although mewing squirrels have been surprising people in various parts of the country for some time now, this is apparently the first recording ever made.
Mikko Reuna was on his way home from a shop when he noticed the obviously agitated animal.
"I heard some mewing from behind the house and at first I thought it was a cat," explains Reuna.
When Reuna realised it was a squirrel making the sound, he pulled out his cell phone and started videoing. The squirrel did not seem to mind the attention, coming within a metre and a half of the camera.
The producer of YLE's nature evening programme, Asko Hauta-aho, recalls that talk of squirrels imitating cats first came up in the show about a year ago. Mammal expert, Dr Heidi Kinnunen says that since then, the show has received several emails and phone calls about mewing rodents.
Kinnunen says that she is unable to explain the unusual sounds. As the animal is clearly agitated, it may be a reaction to distress or fear. She speculates that it could be an extension of juvenile behaviour. Young squirrels use beeping squeaks to communicate with their mothers.
Heidi Kinnunen does not, however, consider mewing squirrels as a matter for concern, even though she does concede that it is out of the ordinary.
"When the squirrels start talking, then we can get worried," she laughs.
YLE