Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: Campus

Dan Fletcher/the daily northwestern. Some students and faculty think the squirrels at NU are more fierce than other squirrels, but a biology class study found more examples of "human-on-squirrel aggression" than of squirrels attacking humans.

Beth Gottesman was biking to class when she spotted a pair of squirrels engaged in battle on the sidewalk in front of her. The Weinberg junior swerved, barely avoiding running them over.

Experiences such as Gottesman's are common on campus, where some students claim "Northwestern squirrels" are more fierce than normal squirrels.

"Squirrels are more aggressive here," said Weinberg sophomore Luke J. Adams. "(Back home in Peoria, Ill.), I couldn't get within 20 feet of the squirrels, but these ones will, like, run between my legs."

Neurobiology professor Teresa Horton, who is, according to another NU professor, "the closest NU has to a squirrel expert," said despite popular belief, squirrels at NU are no different than squirrels anywhere else. In fact, her Animal Behavior course has studied the relationship between squirrels and students on campus. Specifically, Horton's students studied squirrel aggression.

"They did a very careful study of watching sidewalks on campus, looking for squirrel-on-human aggression," she said. "After 10 hours over two weeks, they found no examples of that, although there was some evidence of human-on-squirrel aggression."

Regardless, students said they believe NU's squirrels are friskier than others, and many have personal squirrel stories.

"Oh, I've had a couple run-ins with the squirrels," Adams said.

Adams, a member of NU's ROTC, said a squirrel has been breaking into his unit's basement, gnawing at bags of chips.

"We're tracking the squirrel's activity," he said. "Our main mission is to find where he's coming in."

McCormick junior Cheng Zhang said the squirrels are amusing, not annoying.

"I saw one squirrel just hanging out on a bike seat about a month ago," Zhang said. "He was just chilling, having a good time."

Squirrel enthusiast Gregg Bassett, who lives in Elmhurst, Ill., and is president of the international Squirrel Lover's Club, said the animals probably look to NU students for food and handouts.

Continued...

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