Suicidal Squirrels? Or Are They Just Nuts?

You're driving down the road, minding your own business, when suddenly, a squirrel, jaws clenched around something larger than its entire head, lunges out of the underbrush and launches itself suicidally in front of your car.

If reflexes and physics keep you from squashing that squirrel flat, you can be assured that it will be only moments before the next romping Rocky ricochets out into the road, right in front of you.

So what’s going on?

Well, it’s been a banner year for acorns and nuts, says Maggie Jones, executive director of the Denison-Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic. And it’s the second or third year of such abundance.

“Plenty of food means plenty of babies,” she says.

And plenty of baby squirrels (and chipmunks) early in the year means plenty of teenage squirrels (and chipmunks) in the fall.

Jones says the little buggers were feeling so flush early on that many went out and had entire second broods after the first ones left the nest.

And right now, those youngsters are just learning about things like roads. In fact, she says, she has read that 70 percent of squirrels don’t make it past their first year on Earth.

The reactions that protect squirrels from predators, Jones says — stopping stock still, running in one direction and then turning tail and running in the exact opposite direction — don’t protect them from traffic.

Some trees along secondary and local roads, such as oaks and hickories, produce nuts, which often drop and are crushed by passing cars, adds Jay Kaplan, director at in Canton.

"These make tasty hors d'ouevres for nearby squirrels, who (are) then hit by the next passing vehicle," he says. "Even those nuts that fall to the side of the road may be grabbed by squirrels, who then continue across the roadway at their peril."

Scientists call squirrels “scatter-hoarders,” Jones says. They pick up this season's bounty of food — acorns, hickory nuts, beech nuts, walnuts — and while they feast on some of those nuts now, they bury some for later. When the squirrels race kamikaze-like across the road with the giant nuts in their mouths, they are probably heading for a good burial ground. (For the nuts, that is. Not for themselves).

Most squirrels will remember where they left most of their goodies, Jones says, but they’ll inevitably forget some — or, given their mortality rate, not survive to take advantage of their hoarding.

Squirrels aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the nut-wealth of the past few years. Chipmunks — “larder-hoarders,” who store their wealth in their dens — also are a part of it, as are blue jays, woodpeckers, mice and many other creatures.

Squirrels also love mushrooms, and it’s a good year for mushrooms, but “right now," Jones says, “it’s all about nuts.”

While avoiding squirrels, drivers need to be careful not to crash into trees or other cars, experts say.

Jacklyn Tobin, from the American Automobile Association, says that “If avoiding the squirrel is in any way going to cause a driver to lose control, it’s better to simply not try to avoid the squirrel.”

If you’re the only car on the road, you can slow down, she says. But otherwise, grit your teeth and maintain your line.

“Safety is the No. 1 concern,” she says, adding, “The poor squirrels.”