19 Jan
False: Female squirrels do all the work while the males laze around
Sound familiar? Female squirrels do all the work while the males laze around
By Ryan O’Hare for MailOnline
The O’Leary: Read This – Sound familiar? Female squirrels do all the work while the males laze around
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To The O’Leary:
All is right in my Squirrel Land
Further, I was raised with the squirrels. Early on I became a friend of The Master Squirrel who ran “The School of Listening, Observing, Behavior and Discipline For Female Squirrels”. I became a Master Assistant at the School, enabling me to bring the School to the Human Females (TSLOBDW).
For many years I have had two mess halls for squirrels, on the AuSable River and at Home. I have intensely observed, studied and researched their lives.
My comments are embedded in the article in green.
The McGlynn
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Biologists tracked the activity of a group of ground squirrels in Alaska
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The squirrels wore fitness trackers to monitor their movement
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The study found that females spent more time in the burrow rearing pups
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But data revealed females matched the activity of males above ground.
They should and should do more than males because they are given shelter, food, clothing by the male
Arctic ground squirrels are giving a bad name to small, furry males everywhere.
While females busy themselves with the job of rearing young and gathering food, their other halves may prefer to take a backseat, lazing around outside the burrow instead.
Bullshit, the males are not lazing around; they are thinking serious and deep penetrating matters about their world and how to solve their world problems.
The findings come from a study using fitness trackers to monitor squirrel activity, revealing the industrious females work harder, despite spending less time above ground.
The writer assumes manual labor, cleaning toilets, washing floors, etc. is work but thinking grand thoughts is not work. And working to solve their world problems is exhausting. Mr. Ryan is dead wrong. One wonders about his observing skills.
A male squirrel in deep thought about solving his world problems.
Taking a breather: Researchers have revealed that while female ground squirrels busy themselves with rearing young and gathering food, males may prefer to take a backseat
The females should busy themselves as such since they are the primary cause of the necessity for the rearing etc.
Researchers at Northern Arizona University monitored the activity levels of more than 40 of the north American rodents over the course of two years, using specially designed collars.
Accelerometers just like those inside a smartphone were used to show when the animals moved, while light monitors captured when they were above or below ground – by logging exposure to daylight.
The group had expected to see differences between males and females during their reproductive cycles, including how much time they spend below ground, but the activity logs revealed a few surprises.
The study found that females spent more time below ground than males, rearing pups.
Of course. No surprise. They get a lot of restful slumber sleeping with the pups.
But far from being stay-at-home mothers, the nursing females also ventured above ground to collect food, with a work rate which put the slacking males to shame.
The researchers are dead wrong. I have been there. The food is put by the door by the males.
The activity logs showed that despite spending up to six hours less above ground each day, females matched the overall activity of males.
The writer is confused about what constitutes activity. Thinking is more tiring than moving one’s arms, hands and feet
What’s more, the researchers are none the wiser as to what the males are doing with their extra free time.
