Quite the opposite, which is why I really feel for whoever had to do this

wait no I take it back, upon further review some of the scats were "moist upon collection" and got frozen, not dried out

ohhhh I love this (the picture and this tactic of yours) so much

ohhh yes very much so

YES those are so good!

Ohhhh I would like to hang out with those squirrels

Another thing I love about this paper is that squirrels were apparently reluctant to do the cognitive test after they'd been captured and tagged, so instead the researchers spent 2 months learning to identify individual squirrels by sight

I assume this is because squirrel behavioral studies don't often require researchers to actually capture the animals, which means the squirrels are truly choosing to participate (without, of course, understanding that they're part of a study). But it nonetheless delights me.

And "Caching for where and what: evidence for a mnemonic strategy in a scatter-hoarder," Delgado and Jacobs:

(bonus for this one: each squirrel received 16 nuts. fair payment!)

For example, in "Cognitive Performance of Wild Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in Rural and Urban, Native, and Non-native Environments," Chow et al

When the eel’s in your loo
And you don’t know what to do
That’s a moray

Fear: moray. Complete bafflement: gulper. Go back to the deep deeps!

I’m pawsitively ashamed I didn’t sea this sooner

EXTREMELY excited about this!