Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!

Frank Page, the cartoonist behind Bob the Squirrel, brought an important subject to my attention.

January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day, a "holiday" founded in 2001 by Christy Hargrove, a wildlife rehabilitator at the the Western North Carolina Nature Center. How can we celebrate this auspicious occasion? There are many ways!

Learn About Squirrels

Photograph by Yathin S Krishnappa.

There are over 200 species of squirrel over six of our seven continents. The Indian Giant Squirrel is typically about 14 inches long, not counting its two-foot-long tail! There are 44 species of flying squirrels, which actually glide instead of fly, but can scare the crap out of you if you're not expecting them. It's not hard to find fun facts about squirrels.

Learn the History of Squirrels

The history of squirrels is more interesting than you might have thought. Squirrels are not naturally an urban animal, but every city park in America seems to have them. They were put there deliberately for our amusement. Those Eastern Grey Squirrels aren't so charming in Europe. They were introduced to the continent in 1948, and immediately began displacing the native red squirrels. The American squirrels have since been considered an invasive species.

See a Squirrel Grow Up

You don't see baby squirrels in your backyard, because they are kept hidden in the nest until they quite resemble adult squirrels. But thanks to the internet, we can see what one looks like. Redditor Nadtacular cut open a bag of mulch and found this. Alive. He decided to raise the baby squirrel as a pet, and named it Zip. You can see the rest of the pictures in an album following Zip's first five weeks. 

Meet Famous Squirrels

You can read about famous squirrels in pop culture and in real life. I posted a list of them a few years ago. Pictured here is Scrat, a prehistoric squirrel from the Ice Age movies.

There are more squirrels becoming famous all the time. Jill Harness told us about Winkelhimer The Painting Squirrel. 

Watch Squirrel Videos

See some cute and funny videos of squirrels in a post from Chris Higgins. Oh, look, here's another one. 

Make Them Into Memes

DeviantART member Santiago-Perez took one picture of a squirrel in a heroic-looking position and gave him the super hero treatment. See this squirrel in twenty different costumes at his gallery.

Enjoy the Horror

Timur Bekmambetov, who directed Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, is working on a horror film involving squirrels that seems a bit reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds. It's called simply Squirrels. No release date yet, but you can unleash the terror by watching the pre-production trailer.

Mourn Them

Not everyone likes squirrels -in fact, many people consider them a nuisance varmint (while some consider them dinner). This undated item found at Bad Newspaper may make you laugh, but then you'll feel guilty about laughing.

Celebrate Another Squirrel

Photograph by Aaron Silvers.

Now that you know more about squirrels, you'll be ready for the next holiday coming up February second. No, not Super Bowl Sunday, although this year it happens to fall on Groundhog Day. See, groundhogs are a species of the family Sciuridae, which makes them squirrels, too!

Seriously, there are ways to appreciate squirrels in real life as well as on the internet. You can feed the poor things, because they may have forgotten where they hid those nuts by now. And you can make a donation to your favorite wildlife conservation organization. Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!