While on my morning stroll by the ocean I entered a grove of eucalyptus trees and heard a strange munching sound. I looked up to see a squirrel sitting on a branch gnawing on what I immediately recognized as a bone, probably the rib of a deer.
We often don't think of squirrels one to partake of such strange sustenance, but they are advantageous omnivores (ignore the clickbait in my title!) and will eat what they can get their hands on in times of hunger.
More likely this fat little red squirrel was filing his teeth with the fibrous structure of this bone. Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae in the order Rodentia. Like my cute rat boys at home they possess teeth that grow through their entire life.
Toodles showing off his chompers
Rodents must keep their teeth filed down by gnawing on just about anything they can fit in their mouth. My boys like wood, cardboard and even the occasional mommy fingernail!
I'm sure they'd love to get their teeth on one of my many bones in my collection!
Squirrels and wild rodent can be adorable but their bone-munching habit can also be problematic for forensic anthropologists and archaeologists. In a former life, when I was digging up dead people and animals we'd find evidence of these ever-growing rodent teeth upon the bones. This can make identification of the bone difficult, or create a false positive of trauma or pathology when honestly it was just an innocent nibble.
Squirrels aren't the only culprit. Many herbivores take part in the practice of osteophagy (the consumption of bone). Deer, cows, and even tortoises (Source) take part. It is suggested that these animals eat bones to make up for some mineral deficiency such as calcium and phosphorous.
This is the first time I've seen such a phenomenon in the wild. So keep your eyes peeled out there if you here a weird munching sound coming from high in a tree.
