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Could squirrels evolve to scavenge from human cities?; Exactly what it sounds like.
Topic Started: Feb 12 2011, 08:48 AM (665 Views)
lone shee
Fetus
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This is based on watching gray squirrels out the window, they don't seem to have any fear of me, as they can run faster, and climb trees. I've seen, or heard of them scavenging dropped food, so the idea here is:

Could a squirrel evolve into living in cities, if humans stay around?

P.S. this is part of a larger spec project, which will have it's own topic. I just need the facts on this first.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Of course they can.
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Ook
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not a Transhuman
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perhaps they can evolve slightly different way of nesting,because their nests on trees in cities can be easily destroyed
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Jasonguppy
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Cardinal
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Nests in furniture. they would definitely be a city future creature.

Things that must be included by city speccologists: Pigeons, rats, squirrels, falcons, foxes, raccoons, and escaped reptiles
I do art sometimes.

"if you want green eat a salad"

Projects:
Amammalia: A strange place where mammals didn't make it and the land is, once again, dominated by archosaurs.

Oceanus: An endless sea dotted with islands, reefs, and black holes. Literally endless, literal black holes.

❤️❤️~I'm not a boy~❤️❤️
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

You don't have to include anything in a spec project. It's the project creator's choice of what to put in and why.
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Jasonguppy
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Cardinal
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OK.

Things that should be included by any self respecting city speccologists: Pigeons, rats, squirrels, falcons, foxes, raccoons, and escaped reptiles
I do art sometimes.

"if you want green eat a salad"

Projects:
Amammalia: A strange place where mammals didn't make it and the land is, once again, dominated by archosaurs.

Oceanus: An endless sea dotted with islands, reefs, and black holes. Literally endless, literal black holes.

❤️❤️~I'm not a boy~❤️❤️
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

I agree with everything on there, except for foxes.

While they are great oppurtunists now, they may be outcompeted soon. Of course, that depends on how far into the future you're speculating.
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lone shee
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What plants then?
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Again, depends how far you're speculating.

But I'd say you'd be safe with whatever Humans think looks good or just grass and your generic trees.

Plants would be pretty hard to come by probably.
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Zoroaster
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In the early 70s my parents stayed in London and took us kids. For a few months we lived in Hampstead just down the road from the Heath - squirrels (feral greys more than the smaller rarer native reds) often ventured out of the heath into suburbia...

In Perth (West Australia), they had a Palm Squirrel exhibit at our zoo - a few escaped in the 1950s or 60s, and they are now feral on that part of the city - but they're pretty much surrounded by water and busy highways - so it's unlikely they will spread any further, and they're not actually a pest...

Thankfully we exterminated all the feral greys in Australia in 1973 - just what we need - more ferals!
Edited by Zoroaster, Feb 12 2011, 09:31 AM.
The Speccer Formerly Known As Magoo...
My exobio project(s) :
Hormizd / Zarathustra

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Ook
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not a Transhuman
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every non native placental in australia is a big threat
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Zoroaster
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Fecund Fundiment
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Bexi
Feb 12 2011, 09:36 AM
every non native placental in australia is a big threat
Even pets are a threat...

Our cat is grounded for life... We have ringneck parrots, gallahs, long billed corellas and black cockatoos, and bandicoots in the area (upper reach of the Swan river is across the road thru some abandoned land (used to be a lunatic asylum but been demolished)
The Speccer Formerly Known As Magoo...
My exobio project(s) :
Hormizd / Zarathustra

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Cephylus
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Torando of Terror
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There is a grassy patch with trees in front of my apartment, and a squirrel lives there. I think it's his territory, spanning all the tree-ed areas around my apartment. I've seen him (or is it her?) hopping around on tree branches, scamepring up tree trunks, crossing the road once or twice (the tree branches are mostly not that far apart, so he mostly never comes down, just hops around). He feeds on, I think, some weird little berries, nuts, fruit (from a tree planted in front of my apartment) and I saw him twice or three times scavenging in the trash cans or nibbling on food scraps people left behind. He had a mate once, but for some reason the mate left during some time this winter. There's a family of feral cats living in some hole-like burrow in the side of the building, plus a couple (a big fat tabby and a slinky grey one) owned by an old lady living across the parking lot, but I never saw the cats bothering the squirrel. But I did see the squirrel quarreling over food with a band of magpies, and the magpies easily drove the squirrel away, pecking, screeching and clawing.....

(We have our own animal family :) There's also two or three crows which visit occasionally, sparrows are mostly around, and so are fat pigeons. I also suspect a colony of rats living beneath somewhere.)
Edited by Cephylus, Feb 13 2011, 10:25 AM.
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Jasonguppy
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We have feral cats, dogs, and wild eagles and such. We have just about everything that is in sibly's guide to north American mammals that lives in my area. And I have seen them all.

You guys are lucky. I have no neighbors, driveway, apartment, or even a school or a store in my town.
I do art sometimes.

"if you want green eat a salad"

Projects:
Amammalia: A strange place where mammals didn't make it and the land is, once again, dominated by archosaurs.

Oceanus: An endless sea dotted with islands, reefs, and black holes. Literally endless, literal black holes.

❤️❤️~I'm not a boy~❤️❤️
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Ook
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not a Transhuman
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Beech marten or Edible dormouse now exist practicaly everywhere in czech republic,they are common even in the largest city.The popualtion of house sparrows is slowly declining,but new bird species became very common in urban areas,like common blackbird,Common Wood Pigeon,Stock Dove or cormorant
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