Squirrels are such showoffs. They're already putting us to shame by harvesting all their food locally, living in zero carbon footprint homes, wearing homemade clothing and making their young walk to school.
Now they seem to be considering using bikes for transportation. There's an essay by a well-known author read long ago--I think of Late Night Thoughts On Listening To Mahler's Ninth, but the author's name, Lewis Thomas, doesn't sound right--that suggests squirrels are the likely successors to humans on earth. Perhaps they're checking out our hardware, assessing our strengths and weaknesses, biding their time.
Note, 2/18/12: I finally came across the essay: "The Fire Apes," by Loren Eisley, from 1949.
Princeton squirrels may not be using bikes for transportation (yet), but they already are using them for storing their locally gathered food: a few days ago I found about a dozen acorns in one of the panniers on my bicycle after I parked it in an area, just off Mountain Ave., with lots of very active squirrels. The pannier had a cover (albeit not latched) and the bike was not under an oak tree; those acorns didn't get there by gravity. Fortunately the bike was locked so they couldn't ride away on it.
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