Arent most/all rodents omnivorous? They might prefer to eat only grains or what not, but if pushed to starvation will readily eat meat to survive?
Edit- Seems I missed what's remarkable about this, is they are actively hunting the Voles, not just being opportunistic.
So school kinda lied to you. Herbivores and carnivores exist on a spectrum. The extremes are known as "obligates". So an animal that lacks the ability to eat plants entirely is known as an "obligate carnivore." Otherwise, the rest of animals are somewhere spread across the spectrum. Animals in this region are commonly known to eat what's easily available with just a preference toward one end or the other.
So an animal that lacks the ability to eat plants entirely is known as an "obligate carnivore."
Like house cats!
0% nutrition, 100% cromch.
This is cute but you really shouldn't be feeding cats plants
Even the obligates are just really close to the end of the spectrum as they will occasionally snack on the other source for specific nutrients.
A lot of herbivores will eat meat when starving or stressed. Or just if the happen upon easily accessible meat. Most animals aren't confined to only one food source. To be a omnivore, they need to regularly seek out, consume, and digest both plant and animal parts. Wolves eat grass sometimes, but they can't digest it.
This study is crazy because there are multiple individuals showing this behavior. Not to mention they are actively hunting the voles. Indicating that this behavior wasn't opportunistic. Which is really cool! Though, a squirrel with the appetite of a shrew sounds terrifying.
This reminds me of the Rick and Morty episode where they can understand the squirrels talking.
As long as they don't have the metabolism of a shrew. We don't need cow-sized, carnivorous squirrels any time soon!
Pretty much. I havent read past the abstract, in fairness.
actually is an opportunistic omnivore and more flexible in its diet than previously assumed.
Copy\paste this for any organism capable of digesting another in order to survive. The hunting behavior is fascinating to see in squirrels, though.
Yes. In this case the difference is the squirrels are hunting, killing, and consuming voles.
Yes, they are omnivores.
Rodents don't need to be pushed to starvation, but nuts and plants and small insects are safer to forage for compared to hunting something large enough to fight back. So if they can easily get what they need from available plant sources, they will choose that first.
This is true for a lot of forager type animals. Chickens will kill and eat mice if they can. I've even seen videos of horses snacking on baby chickens.
Chickens really love bugs, maggots etc on the regular.
Gray squirrels in my area will raid bird nests to feed on the eggs and young chicks. They also hunt and eat cicadas. They sometimes scavenge from animal carcasses and are known to gnaw on mammal bones (like from a dead deer) or even turtle shells for the calcium.
Chipmunks will catch and eat crickets, worms, and beetles as well as small reptiles or even frogs. Although I've not witnessed it, I bet they'd at least gnaw on animal bones for calcium.
However, I think hunting voles is kind of a bit more advanced / unique.
Nearly all herbivores being opportunistic omnivores and so on. And rodents even moreso.
This will be great for my unit on adaptation!
"See this squirrel? It's an absolute unit."
The vegans are gonna be pissed.
Edit: LOL, called it
Since when is this new? Squirrels have been eating meat for ages. Primarily insects. Go on YT and look for "Hornet King". At the end of his videos, he often feeds the hornets' larvae to chicken and (drumroll!) squirrels.
From personal observations, cannibalism happens too. Also, squirrels ate the nestling jays where I lived 24 years ago. Old news
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