Squirrel Hazing
According to this site's research, "What began as an attempt to counsel squirrels so we could find out exactly what was so miserable about their lives that they would want to end it underneath a moving vehicle, turned into one of the most startling revelations in the history of human-squirrel relations."
The discovery? Squirrels are taunting each other into bizarre actions and pranks, similar to our college students. It's squirrels playing Chicken.
For details on cheek stuffing, car racing, and other disturbing squirrel behavioral activities, read "The Untold Story."
What Do These Three Squirrels Have In Common?
(Miguel)..............(Beatrix)...............(Clyde)
They are all dead -- the unfortunate victims of squirrel hazing.
EXAMPLES OF SQUIRREL HAZING
Here we see 3 1/2 year old "Dizzy" ** engaging in the oldest known form of squirrel hazing, known as cheek stuffing. The goal of this challenge is for the victim to stuff as many nuts as possible into his/her cheek pouch. A squirrel hazing "judge" determines if the amount of nuts is enough to qualify. Many squirrels permanently disfigure their cheek pouches from participating in this particular ritual.
Here we see 2 1/2 year old "Laurie" ** participating in the second oldest
form of squirrel hazing -- snow sitting. The victim is told to sit perfectly still on a mound of snow until the squirrel hazing "judge" determines that the victim has sat long enough. While it is one of the more tame hazing rituals, many squirrels have frozen to death trying to impress the squirrel hazing "judge."
Here is an example of a squirrel hazing ritual gone wrong. While engaging in the ritual known as dog chasing, 2 year old "Peter" ** and 1 1/2 year old "Kate" ** are forced to fight for their lives when the dog they were chasing suddenly turned on them. "Peter" ** can be seen here fighting valiantly while "Kate" ** goes into hiding. Fortunately, the dog's owner arrived before anyone could be hurt.
Dumpster Diving, which involves a group of squirrels participating in what
could be called "mass hazing," is much more dangerous than it appears. Regularly, the victims end up impaling themselves on broken glass or dying from massive head trauma. In this case, 1 year old "Eddie" ** slammed his head into a discarded microphone stand, temporarily stunning himself senseless.
"Mandy," ** "Michael," ** and "Maria" ** demonstrate what is involved with the ritual known as cat taunting. This is a relatively new ritual due to the sudden influx of domestic felines throughout the world over the last few centuries. The object of this particular ritual is to drink all of the milk and eat all of the cat food before the cat comes after them. The dangers involved with this ritual are self-evident.
Here we see 1 1/2 year-old "Perry" ** preparing to engage in car racing.
Car racing is one of the newest and most frequently witnessed form of squirrel hazing. It involves challenging the victim to run in front of a moving vehicle at the very last possible second. If a victim moves to soon, he/she is taunted and ridiculed for the rest of his/her life.
If a victim moves too late...
You can find the whole story here
http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsi ... hazing.htm