When he put some sugar on tree trunks, the squirrels didn't immediately discover it, so it wasn't just that they were sniffing out the sugar in the evaporated maple sap. The red squirrel's techniques are so similar to our own that Heinrich has wondered if their habits inspired the Native Americans who first tapped maples to make syrup and sugar. In fact, there is apparently a story told by the Iroquois, the native people of New York state, that said maple syrup was discovered by a boy who noticed a squirrel licking some maple sap. Curious, the boy tried some of the sap himself and found that it was sweet, beginning his nation's use of a tasty resource. It seems likely that the squirrel in this story was a red squirrel.
Red squirrels are smaller and redder than the more familiar gray squirrel.
While the gray squirrel is known for hanging out in backyards throughout the U.S. and hoarding acorns, the red squirrel is a northern species that prefers pine and spruce cones to acorns, but has been known to eat everything from acorns to mushrooms to berries to eggs and baby birds. What separates the maple tapping habits of the red squirrel from the sap-lapping done by other squirrels and most birds seems to be planning. Gray squirrels have been observed peeling back bark and lapping the sap underneath. Heinrich has seen chickadees visiting red squirrel taps. Both of these sap-licking techniques are more opportunistic than the red squirrel's method.