New York City Squirrels Thrive with Their Urban Lifestyle

New York City squirrels aren't like regular squirrels. Now, scientists have found that these creatures have adapted to human behavior to allow them to thrive just as well, if not better, than their fellow squirrels in the woods.

"As we rapidly increase the spread of urbanization around the world, urban areas may end up being important places for some wildlife, so it would be good to know what they like about those areas, what allows them to do well and whether humans want them to be there," said Bill Bateman, one of the researchers, in a news release. "If we do want them there, we need to know how we can help their continued success, and perhaps encourage other animals to share our urban spaces."

In this case, the scientists decided to take a closer look at squirrel behavior and see how they modified their behavior when approached by humans. The researchers measured alert distance, flight initiation distance and distance fled to see if they could discriminate between pedestrians who look directly at them and those that did not. In addition, they examined how well squirrels reacted when pedestrians left a footpath.

So what did they find? It turns out that a mere five percent of squirrels didn't show signs of being alerted if the human remained on the footpath and did not look at them.  About 90 percent of squirrels moved away, with longer flight distance, when approached by a human that moved off the footpaths and looked at them.

"This research shows squirrels are able to modulate their behavior when humans behave in a predictable manner, reducing unnecessary responses and improving their ability to persist in an urban environment," said Bateman. "For a squirrel, the city provides a habitat with fewer predators than in the woods, and food tends to be available all year round."

The findings reveal that city squirrels have adapted to an urban environment and are even thriving there. Currently, the scientists plan to explore the behavioral responses of other animals to various human activities in the future.

The findings are published in the Journal of Zoology.