Man Gets Sweet Surprise When Neighborhood Squirrel Brings Her Baby to Meet Him
If you're looking for something to brighten up your day, it's going to be this video that Derrick Downey Jr. shared on Friday, April 12th. Derrick lives in Los Angeles, California and has adopted some neighborhood squirrels. The squirrels are named Maxine and Richard, and he even built them a little house in his backyard. He's developed quite a bond with them, and the proof is in this video.
In the video, Maxine is showing her baby around the neighborhood. While she brought the baby to Derrick's house, she's not quite ready for him to get close to the baby. But she's comfortable enough with Derrick for him to be able to walk right up to them before she grabs the baby and scurries back to their nest.
He was so excited to see Maxine's baby! Derrick says in his caption that he's naming the baby, "Gilbert, or Gilberlean if they're a girl." I love Derrick's videos and his relationship with Richard and Maxine! The squirrels will eat right out of his hand, and they even hang out in the house that he made them (even though they don't live in it permanently). When she was pregnant, Maxine even let him touch her belly!
Commenters also loved that Maxine trusts Derrick enough to bring her babies around him. @Nicolette9463 shared, "Sooo sweet. Maxine loves you. She wouldn't have showed just anyone her babies, they're protective!" @ashkrice made me laugh with, "Congrats squirrelpa!" And I couldn't agree more with Dawn when she said, "I love that we get to see this stuff so close up & your enthusiasm is contagious!"
Related: Man Sets up Most Elaborate House for the Wild Squirrels in His Neighborhood
Cool Facts About Squirrels
We have more squirrels than I can count in our yard, and most of the time I'm just frustrated by them because they always steal food out of my birdfeeders. Not to mention they're pretty noisy and yell at me anytime I try to hang out in the yard near their trees.
Did you know that squirrels pretend to hide food? There are little covered holes all over my yard, and I Googled it to find out why they put food all over the place instead of in just one spot. They do this to fool any thieves who might be watching them bury food. They'll dig a hole, pretend to put nuts in it, and then cover up nothing. When thieves come by to steal the goods, they come up empty handed! This is a cool trick since they lose about 25% of what they bury to looters. They can find the food that they've buried in a foot of snow by digging a hole and following the scent. This comes in handy during the winter months.
Another interesting squirrel fact is that they can fall almost a hundred feet and land unharmed! They fluff out their tail like a parachute which slows their fall and usually allows them to grab on to something before they fall that far.
I'll admit that squirrels are pretty fun to watch run around, even if I do get mad that they steal the bird food I put out. After watching this video, now I'm hoping to see some babies soon!
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