Detailed Guide On Do Squirrels Eat Meat?

Squirrels are active, bushy-tailed rodents that most of us recognize from parks, forests and even raiding backyard bird feeders!

When watching squirrels energetically climbing trees and gnawing on acorns or seeds, they seem strictly vegetarian.

But do squirrels only eat plant foods like nuts, fruits and vegetables?

Or under certain situations, do squirrels also consume meat for nutrients and calories?

Keep reading this informative blog post to discover the answers!

We’ll explore five areas to unravel the mystery of the squirrel diet:

1. Common Plant Foods Squirrels Eat
2. Whether Squirrels Hunt Meat Themselves
3. Reasons Squirrels Would Eat Meat Anyway
4. Examples of Squirrels Eating Meat
5. Problems From Eating Too Much Meat

By the end, you’ll understand exactly what foods squirrels prefer in their normal diets, if they make an effort to catch their own meat, why they may eat meat occasionally anyway, observations of squirrels consuming meat, and what health impacts come from eating various amounts of meat. Let’s get learning!

Do Squirrels Eat Meat?

Yes, squirrels will occasionally eat meat as part of their omnivorous diet. Though they mainly consume nuts, seeds, fruit, fungi and plant materials, squirrels are opportunistic foragers and will take advantage of animal proteins when available.

Squirrel meat sources include eggs, insects, caterpillars, smaller rodents, and even young birds.

Favorite Plant Foods of Squirrels

To start understanding if squirrels only dine on plant foods or not, we first need to know their favorite veggies, fruits and nuts that provide the bulk of nutrition!

Tree squirrels belong to the Sciuridae animal family, closely related to other veggie-loving mammals like prairie dogs, woodchucks, chipmunks and marmots.

This means nuts, seeds, plant parts like roots and shoots, vegetables, fruits, fungi and sometimes even tree sap make up the majority of squirrels’ menu.

Specifically, top foods include:

Nuts and Seeds

Squirrels thrive best eating a variety of nuts and seeds like acorns, almonds, peanuts, kiwi, walnuts, hickory nuts, pine cones, pistachios, pecans, hazelnuts and cashews.

These foods contain proteins for building and repairing squirrel bodies, carbohydrates for immediate energy needs, healthy fats for storing future energy, and high levels of vitamins and minerals to keep their organs, blood, and brain healthy. Nutrient-packed nuts and seeds fuel active squirrels.

Berries and Fruit

When available, squirrels enjoy harvesting ripened wild blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, elderberries, currants, as well as tree fruits like pears, cherries, peaches, and apples.

Sweet fruit sugars offer quick energy while vitamins support immune function and bodily processes.

Vegetables and Plants

Resourceful squirrels even eat vegetables and non-fruiting parts of plants like mushrooms, tomatoes, leaves, dried corn cobs, broccoli stalks, carrot tops, willow shoots, tree buds, natural sap, edible flowers and bark.

Though less tasty than fruit, these foods guarantee survival in lean months when nuts and seeds become scarce.

Eating a wide variety of plant foods across the seasons ensures squirrels secure all the balanced macro and micronutrients essential for good health. But do they add a bit of meat too occasionally?

Do Squirrels Actively Hunt Meat Themselves?

In the natural world, most healthy squirrels actually do not hunt smaller animals for meat themselves. Why not?

Squirrels lack crucial hunting assets like sharp fangs and claws for grabbing prey, stealth ambush skills, speed chasing down a meal, venom to paralyze victims, water dwellings to snatch fish, or sheer bulk and strength pouncing like lions and bears.

Their best assets are nibble-strength gnawing teeth to open tough nuts or nifty parkour skills leaping through treetops to outmaneuver predators!

Squirrels thrive best using clever escape strategies rather than directly attacking animals for flesh.

Basically, hunting poses unnecessary risk for minimal rewards when their favorite nuts and fruits already surround them.

Pursuing and killing mobile, speedy rabbits, mice, lizards, frogs or birds requires far more energy expenditure and risk of injury than simply reaching vines of grapes or digging up carot tubers.

With an abundance of easily accessible plant foods, why bother chasing fleet-footed animals? Squirrels instinctively recognize they aren’t optimized for hunting success.

Thus, in most cases, squirrels do not actively kill creatures for meat. However that doesn’t mean crafty, adaptable squirrels NEVER eat meat under opportunistic situations…

Related Article: Feeding Squirrels by Hand

Reasons Squirrels Would Eat Meat Anyway

If given the option of an easy meal requiring minimal work, squirrels prove themselves resourceful omnivores taking advantage of meat sources including:

Scavenging Carcasses

Hunger drives desperate squirrels to scavenge rotting meat scraps off animal carcasses abandoned by larger predators like eagles, foxes or bobcats.

Though disease risks exist eating decaying flesh, the rich protein and fat offers survival sustenance lacking in dried twigs or shriveled winter berries.

Stealing Unprotected Eggs

Some daring squirrels raid vulnerable bird nests with unguarded eggs. Baby bird embryos contain dense nutrients helpful for nursing mother squirrels requiring extra calories for milk production.

Though squirrels don’t hunt adult birds, unprotected eggs become easy targets in lean times.

Eating Human Leftover Foods

Similarly, clever urban squirrels adapt to forage picnic scraps, devour meat tossed from fast food wrappers, or invade trash cans for remnants of BBQ ribs, chicken wings or hot dogs.

This convenient meat requires no energy catching elusive prey while hunger persists. Survival instinct compels squirrels to capitalize on easy meat calories.

Catching Insects and Larvae

When available, squirrels bolster their diet trapping high-protein creepy crawlies like caterpillars, grubs, grasshoppers, crickets, cicadas, beetles, or earthworms to supplement plant material. Though not their preferred fare, wiggly protein sustains squirrels through seasons of hardship.

Hunting offers poor returns on energy invested for squirrels compared to abundant acorns and maple seeds.

However survival needs lead squirrels to opportunistically eat meat sources like carrion, eggs, human garbage, or insects when vegetarian fare is scarce. But what happens if squirrels eat mainly meat long term? Read Part 4!

Observations of Squirrels Eating Meat

Scientists have documented several fascinating first-hand encounters of squirrels resorting to meat under survival pressure including:

Squirrels Caught Gnawing Bones

While filming red squirrels struggling through a harsh winter with few pinecone crops in Canada, one crew noticed a desperate mama squirrel attempting to chew bits of frozen meat and sinew attached to an abandoned deer leg bone in the snow.

Licking traces of blood suggested unprecedented efforts obtaining protein.

Baby Birds Eaten in Nest Raids

Although extremely rare, a few squirrel species like California ground squirrels exhibit more predatory tendencies snatching whole baby birds from unattended nests.

Researchers attribute bolder nibbling on living creatures to their evolution in the desert competing fiercely for limited food.

Squirrels Stealing Eggs From Hen House

A Russian farmer reported frustration trying to prevent a sneaky squirrel from repeatedly infiltrating his chicken coop through a torn wire fence to pilfer chicken eggs.

Though a relatively simple entry compared to hawk raids, the squirrel stole eggs at every opportunity showing great determination and problem-solving intellect.

Meat-Adapted Urban Squirrels

Wildlife rehabilitators share that recently rescued urban squirrels often refuse traditional squirrel fare like acorns and pine nuts, instead demanding hot dogs, lunch meat, pepperoni pizza or fried chicken from humans’ meals initially before.

Transitioning their palates back to natural foods. This suggests city squirrels grow accustomed to meat-centric diets when relying on tourist handouts or trash can diving in public parks while less temptation exists for rural squirrels to abandon herbivorous tendencies.

As seen, various accounts confirm squirrels tap meat sources as needed while preferring nuts and seeds if abundantly available. But what happens if they switch long term to just meat?

The Impact of Meat-Only Diets on Squirrels

Hypothetically, could squirrels thrive if they abandoned acorns and twigs to adaptationally pursue animals and insects as carnivores? Would a meat focus harm squirrels over time? Let’s compare and see what experts report!

Consequences of Too Much Meat

Intestinal Distress

Too much protein and fat taxes squirrel digestive systems evolved for high fiber plant diets, often causing unpleasant issues like diarrhea, constipation, cramping and inflammation.

Their stomachs struggle breaking down and eliminating excessive animal tissue.

Nutritional Deficiencies

Without varied fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, fungi and edible flowers, squirrels risk deficient nutrient intake leading to anemia, bleeding disorders, megaloblastic anemia, vision loss, infections, neurological issues and stunted growth in young.

Tooth Decay & Disease

Chewy plant foods naturally scrub plaque from squirrel teeth preventing decay; soft meats allow bacterial overgrowth, tartar, rotting cavities, gingivitis and subsequent systemic illness. Poor dental health reflects poor diet.

Obesity

Too many meat calories lead to obese squirrels at higher risk for arthritis, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Additionally excessive body fat limits mobility evading predators and climate resilience. Lean, muscular frames support survival and fitness.

Therefore while occasional meat meals prove innocuous and beneficial rebuilding starving bodies, long term meat-exclusive diets harm health fostering weight gain, sickness and deterioration in squirrels. Moderation remains key for resilient robust rodents!

Conclusion on Squirrels Enjoying Balanced Diets

In the end, we discovered squirrels largely thrive on readily available plant foods like acorns, nuts, seeds, mushrooms and fruit while remaining open-minded to opportunistic meat eating when convenient. This dietary flexibility allows survival through seasonal hardship when regular crops fail.

While healthy squirrels don’t normally hunt prey actively, they will eat eggs, insects or meat leftovers from humans, carnivores or carcasses when alternate protein sources grow scarce. However perpetual meat-exclusive diets ultimately cause detrimental tooth decay, vitamin deficiencies and weight gain issues over time.

Well-rounded nutrition from diverse plant food sources keeps squirrels optimally nourished across seasons while their cunning opportunism to eat meat during shortages helps ensure species success through the ages! Hopefully you feel enlightened learning about fascinating squirrel diets after reading this post. Stay curious!