Ramblings About My Life..

Squirrels

Squirrels hate "kuaci". I'm not kidding. The reason I can attest to the truthfulness of the first sentence is because I went squirrel-feeding a few days ago with a group of my friends (Mark, Wei Jin, James, Hsin Yu, Jun Xue, Tommy, Su-Ann and Brandy) at the Botanical Gardens. Why, ask you, do we indulge in the misperception that squirrels require human charity to obtain their daily dose of nuts when they have been happily subsisting on chestnuts, berries and leftover food from picnics for ages? Well, we weren't that deluded that we thought of ourselves as benovelent providers of yummy treats for the furry little rodents - it's just that it so happened that Mark discovered a packet of "kuaci" that he bought a couple of weeks ago were unfit for human consumption. And in line with true Malaysian doctrine - "if it's broke, donate it" - we finally decided to go and feed the squirrels with them. However, we still nevertheless managed to retain a self-righteous (albeit misplaced) feeling that we were going to give precious, life-sustaining "kuaci" to hordes of starving, furry little rodents who would welcome us with open arms - I beg your pardon, I meant paws.

It was anything but open paws when our little "rodentitarian mission" began. The squirrels were most likely lounging in their warm and comfy squirrel-holes when a bunch of misguided humans ventured out in the chilly air in the vain hope that they would be able to feed squirrels. We sighted only a few of them, as opposed to the hordes of squirrels I was secretly hoping to see. Then, we had to coax them to run up to us and take the "kuaci" from us. I mean, what the hell? If people were giving out free stuff, we would have already run up to them with nary an iota of coaxing. Most of the squirrels ran up to us when we gestured to them with the "kuaci" in our hands, but when they were about a hand's span away, they would just sniff at the "kuaci" and scamper off. A squirrel was actually more interested in my watch than the "kuaci" I was holding! In frustration, I threw some potato crisps at them - and watched one actually gobble it up with relish, much to my bewilderment. Nearly all of them ate a "kuaci" but refused to so much as sniff at another when we offered them again.

I returned from this outing with a heap of knowledge. One, squirrels are true connosieurs of nuts. Never offer them rejects that came from a budget supermarket - instead, offer them nuts from Mark's and Spencer's. Two, squirrels are modernised. Offer them potato crisps and nuts and my bet will be that they'll go after the potato crisps. Nuts are so...old-school. Anyway, three, to feed squirrels, you'll have to contact the Secretary of the Squirrel Association so that they'll allocate a feeding-time for you. They'll have to notify the squirrels that you're coming, or else all the squirrels you see are the ones kicked out of home for being pissing drunk (do squirrels actually get drunk?) or for some domestic issue. They're busy rodents, these squirrels. However, the outing was still pretty fun. As usual, Wei Jin was the official photographer and he managed to take pictures of squirrels gullible enough to eat the "kuaci" we offered to them. Here are a few:


Irrefutable photographic evidence that squirrels don't like "kuaci". Here's a picture of one particularly rude rodent showing it's rear to Su-Ann in an obvious gesture of disapproval after she offered it "kuaci".


A squirrel was actually gullible enough to take the "kuaci" from my hand! I hope nothing bad happened to it - all the others refused to take the "kuaci that I offered them.


A picture of a squirrel happily munching away at something. What that something was, I can't remember. Anyway, either this squirrel has thick fur or it is seriously obese - it almost looks like a fluffy, grey ball.


The best picture taken that day. Wei Jin somehow managed to bait a squirrel into approaching him with nothing in his hand!

posted by yong chen @ 9:08 PM