"Squirrels seem to know when someone cruising by is 'good' or 'bad,'" she said, and explained that squirrels might remember visual attributes, similar to how humans tend to remember faces.
Bob Johnston is a professor of psychology who directs the Johnston Lab at Cornell University. He worked on the upcoming hamster study. Johnston told Animal Planet News he thinks the new squirrel research is "very thorough and excellent."
He said, "I do agree that these experiments suggest mental representations of other individuals in hamsters and squirrels. Jill's paper is the first that I am aware of that shows this for rodents."
He hopes people will begin to recognize "the importance of social intelligence in animals, even ones that might seem to be rather simple and 'stupid.'"
Name: Belding's Ground Squirrel (
Spermophilus beldingi)
Primary Classification: Sciuridae (Squirrels)
Location: Northwestern United States
Habitat: Alpine and subalpine meadows and pastures
Diet: Mainly seeds. Also nuts, grains, flower heads, mushrooms, roots, bulbs, green vegetation, insects, small invertebrates, bird eggs and carrion.
Size: Around 12 inches in length and 12 oz in weight
Description: Gray or yellowish-gray coat tinged with buff; reddish-brown cap; small ears; short limbs; bushy, yet flattened, tail
Cool Facts: It makes multiple-note warning trills for land-based predators and single-note trills for aerial predators. It spends nearly three-quarters of the year hibernating in large underground colonies, allowing it only three months to forage, grow and reproduce.
Conservation Status: Common
