From the beginning of time, Squirrels have built their nests in trees. Usually, they choose trees that allow them to jump to the next tree without having to descend to the ground. But before Christopher Columbus discovered America, there was a Squirrel at Breeches Lake who built her nest on a very tall Balsam Fir, so tall and isolated that the Squirrel could not jump to the next tree without suffering a fall to the ground.
One night the Fox saw the Squirrel going to her nest and early next morning the same Fox was patiently waiting for the squirrel to come down. The latter, with babies in the nest, could not possibly escape the Fox since jumping to the ground, in consideration of the greater speed of the Fox, would have meant certain death. After several minutes of not knowing what to do, the Squirrel saw a young Shrike who landed on a branch close to the nest and the Squirrel said:
“Shrike, please do not attack my babies. I have a pile of nuts in my food cache and I will gladly give you half if you help me jump to the next tree so that I can escape this Fox waiting for me down below”.
“I think I know what to do,” said the Shrike, “with my sharp beak I just have to open the skin on both sides of your body and I will carefully sew the skin to your front and back legs. With that simple operation, you will be able to glide to the next tree without having to come down to the ground”.
The Squirrel agreed and gave half of her food to the Shrike. The operation took one hour, but at the end, the Squirrel noticed to her amazement that, while extending her front and back legs, the wind lifted her body as if she were a bird.
Without hesitation she jumped from the tallest part of the Fir to the nearest tree 20 meters away and, surely, she was able to reach it without being disturbed by the Fox who watched with disbelief his prey escaping in the air.
The Shrike performed similar operations on the baby Squirrels. And from that time on, a new type of Squirrel, the Flying Squirrel, came into existence. Some of their gliding jumps may cover distances of up to 40 meters.
As a result, Foxes and Coyotes are not very happy about the Flying Squirrel’s new skills.
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