Squirr-o-flage

Squirrels have been in the news again - and at least this time it's not about them attacking people:

Snaky smell helps squirrels stay safe
It is scary being a little, tasty squirrel, but some species of the rodents have come up with an intimidating camouflage: snake smells.

California ground squirrels and rock squirrels chew up rattlesnake skin and smear it on their fur to mask their scent, a team at the University of California Davis reported.

Barbara Clucas, a graduate student in animal behaviour, watched ground squirrels and rock squirrels chewing up pieces of skin shed by snakes and then licking their fur.

The scent probably helps to mask the squirrel's own scent, especially when the animals are asleep in their burrows, the researchers wrote in the journal Animal Behaviour.

-Reuters