No, really. Hot tails. In 2007, researchers discovered that when ground squirrels and rattlesnakes face off, the squirrels heat up their tails. We already knew that rattlesnakes have infrared(IR) sensors (heat vision), and we knew that squirrels wave their tails at snakes, but this was the first time scientists had detected such a vivid heat-mediated signalling mechanism. Scientists built a robo-squirrel to confirm the deterring effect of the heat shift, but for some reason news sources are getting excited about it all over again lately. Robo-animal fan clubs, I assume.
Presumably, heating up their big, bushy tails either serves to make the squirrel look bigger and more intimidating, or just to make its warning more noticeable. ("Warning?" you ask? Adults are largely immune to the venom, and can therefore harass and fight the snake fairly well. Mostly rattlers favor surprise attacks, and the tail-waving warns it that it's been seen.) As far as I know, we're still not sure which. Either way, it's pretty cool, especially considering that squirrels themselves can't see IR. o_O
This reminds us of some important lessons. To well-analyze a particular species, we have to think about the other organisms it interacts with in addition to the species itself. Squirrels can't see IR, so if we hadn't been focusing on the snake-squirrel interaction, we never would have found this cool example of evolution. Moreover, another reason this took us so long to find out is that we can't see IR either. It's important to break out of our human-centered box, because the world is full of things we can't see, hear, smell, or detect, and we'll never know about them if we don't think to look.
Presumably, heating up their big, bushy tails either serves to make the squirrel look bigger and more intimidating, or just to make its warning more noticeable. ("Warning?" you ask? Adults are largely immune to the venom, and can therefore harass and fight the snake fairly well. Mostly rattlers favor surprise attacks, and the tail-waving warns it that it's been seen.) As far as I know, we're still not sure which. Either way, it's pretty cool, especially considering that squirrels themselves can't see IR. o_O
This reminds us of some important lessons. To well-analyze a particular species, we have to think about the other organisms it interacts with in addition to the species itself. Squirrels can't see IR, so if we hadn't been focusing on the snake-squirrel interaction, we never would have found this cool example of evolution. Moreover, another reason this took us so long to find out is that we can't see IR either. It's important to break out of our human-centered box, because the world is full of things we can't see, hear, smell, or detect, and we'll never know about them if we don't think to look.
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