Surely you remember our riveting report on the “vampire” squirrels of Borneo from a few months back? If not, you should read that first. Go ahead, we’ll wait.
Done? Oh, you didn’t read it. Ok, fine, here’s a quick recap. The vampire squirrel, which is the much cooler nickname for the “tufted ground squirrel” (scientific name rheithrosciurus macrotis), is not actually a supernatural undead rodent.
However, Dayak hunters in Borneo say they are capable of jumping out of trees onto the backs of small dear, tearing out their throats before eating their nutritious organs and drinking their delicious blood.
Scientists have never been able to capture this incredibly frightening and improbable phenomenon on film, but last year a family of scientists (including a student from the Jakarta Intercultural School) did write a paper, based on a few rare photos the vampire squirrel they managed to collect, concluding that they have the fluffiest tails of any mammal in the world, with tails about 130% the size of the rest of their bodies by volume.
Recently, researchers revealed the very first video of the tufted ground squirrel ever captured by anybody. Although it unfortunately does not feature a fuzzy squirrel savagely killing and feasting upon a larger beast, it does help to further confirm that its tail is freakin’ fluffy.
The video comes from Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan. Researchers studying the forest’s ecosystem setup cameras triggered by motion throughout the park. Sure enough, a few weeks into the study, one of the cameras caught the incredibly elusive squirrel on tape.
Although the cameras can shoot in color, the vampire squirrel was shot at night (of course) using the camera’s infrared sensor, resulting in the black and white footage.
Researchers hope they can get more footage of the tufted ground squirrel in action so that they can see if its huge fluffy tail is used to attract mates.
Much as we’d like to see some hot squirrel-on-squirrel action, we’re really hoping that the researchers can finally capture the vampire squirrel in deadly deer-killing mode, which would earn Indonesia the honor of having the cutest scariest creature on Earth (a title currently held by Australia’s drop bear).
