Rock squirrels

Rock squirrels are one of the native critters we see around our campsite every day.

They’re like the grey squirrels we have in the northeast, just a little smaller but fatter, with shorter less bushy tails. And they chase each other about in the evenings.

Today I met two students from University of Georgia doing research on the rock squirrel population here in Zion. (Again, who knew this was a thing?!)

Anna and Mckenzie put out 10 Hav-a-Heart traps with peanut butter bait, catching 7 squirrels in the 1st hour here this morning in the campground. Early findings from their research in the mobile field lab indicate over-population and disease, e.g. many of the squirrels show signs of aggression — bites on their tales — along with very high flea counts.

Anna and Mckenzie were very passionate about their work, and seemed to be having fun doing it. It was nice to meet future scientists!