Most folks who live around Davis probably don't have a very high opinion of ground squirrels. If they aren't digging holes in farmers' fields, then they're running out into traffic. But the ground squirrel deserves more respect. For two decades, Professor Donald Owings and his colleagues of the Department of Psychology at UC, Davis have been studying the eternal battle between the California ground squirrel and one of its arch enemies, the northern Pacific rattlesnake.
Rattlesnakes love baby ground squirrels.
A hungry rattler may lurk around a squirrel colony for days, checking out burrows for succulent little pups. The adult squirrels, who are skilled at dodging fangs and, in some regions, are partially immune to snake venom, fiercely defend their burrows and pups. A ground squirrel will approach and harass a snake by kicking sand in its face, and may sometimes even attack and bite it. If the squirrel continues to harass, then the snake may strike. Researchers wondered why the squirrels so often persisted in something as provocative as sand-kicking.