June 6, 2008
Squirrels and Cables: A Mystery
Much as we love squirrels here, the plain fact remains that occasionally they do seem to choose virtual suicide by knawing through power cables.
Sometimes, these can be within the lofts of unfortunate householders. But large instiutions aren’t immune-apparently Los Angeles airport’s air conditioning was taken out recently by a squirrel knawing through cable.
Why do they do this? No-one seems sure, but we’ll continue to dig for a definitive answer. In the meantime, the top three explantions we’ve found are:
1) Neurosis/frustration. (Oh please. In the nineteenth century, people said that about women…We’re not going to insult squirrelly intelligence in the same way).
2) The need to knaw. Squirrel’s teeth, like those of all rodents grow all the time. So, many people believe that the “need to knaw” which this creates (in order to wear their teeth down) makes squirrels partial to the resistance of cables.
3) The most interesting explanation so far is that a mineral-deficient squirrel may smell minerals in a cable, and thus feel compelled to knaw them. For more on this idea (and proof that this problem has been around for many years) see the article at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,861824,00.html
More on this as soon as we sniff it out ourselves!
Filed under The Squirrel Feed, squirrel facts, squirrel food by JustSquirrels