Squirrel Splooting

Have you ever witnessed a squirrel “splooting”? 

The informal word for a squirrel lying down flat is called “splooting”…Splooting is defined as the act of lying flat on the belly with the legs stretched out.

(Source: Geography Realm)

Perhaps you can see the squirrel splooting in this photograph that I recorded by the bird feeder outside the morning room.

The squirrel was scooting around on his/her belly, legs splayed out to the side. I was slightly alarmed at first. Perhaps the voracious opportunist had devoured too much bird food? It literally looked as if the chubby gray squirrel and could no longer move around without dragging the swollen abdomen along the grass.

Here’s a close-up.

My hypothesis seemed reasonable, right?

Wrong.

It turns out there are two reason squirrels choose this goofy form of locomotion across the ground. Squirrel splooting is an effective means of 1) heat dumping and defending themselves against predators.

Temperature Regulation

Because squirrels are incapable of perspiring to help regulate their body temperature, they’ve evolved an effective alternative.

If you see a squirrel lying flat against a surface on a hot day, it may be trying to cool off by using heat dumping. Compared to the fur on the outer body, a squirrel’s fur is much thinner on its belly. There are also blood vessels here that are close to the surface of the skin. When a squirrel gets too hot, it may lie on a surface that is cooler than the surrounding air… By stretching itself out so it lies flat, it exposes as much of its body surface to the cooler material as possible.

(Source: Okanagan Wildlife Control)

Was the gray squirrel I saw and photographed heat dumping? Perhaps. But given the still moderate temperatures in late April, there’s a more likely probability.

Defensive Splooting

Squirrels are very small creatures that have little in the way of defences, especially against predators that are much larger than they are. They… are unlikely to [be able to] do much to deter a bobcat or a coyote. However, that’s not to say that squirrels are completely defenceless. Because of their coloration, they can blend in fairly well… [so] squirrels may lie flat… to improve their camouflage by hiding their underbellies, which are often lighter coloured than the fur on their backs. If the squirrel does get attacked, lying flat on their stomachs and presenting their backs to their enemies helps to protect their vital organs… [and] helps to increase its chance of survival.

(Source: Okanagan Wildlife Control)

Given the open area where the bird feeder sits, and given the possibility of a hawk or other predator trying to make a meal of the gray squirrel, I’m guessing that self preservation was the motive.

Squirrel splooting mystery resolved?

I suspect so…