If you look closely, you can see that its ears aren't really any larger than those of another squirrel of that size. It's a European Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris); in contrast to the unrelated American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), the European Red Squirrel has distinctly elongated fur "ear tufts" that help insulate the ears in cold climates and make the ears look much larger than they actually are.
There are a number of species in the genus Sciurus with these ear tufts; collectively, they're known as the "tufted squirrels" or "tassel-eared squirrels."
Cheers,
Michael
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
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"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Don't you think it's high time you had a wild animal familiar you rescued from certain death as a baby who now never leaves your side? An otak, if you will.
Don't you think it's high time you had a wild animal familiar you rescued from certain death as a baby who now never leaves your side? An otak, if you will.
Every Fall when I was a kid, several of the local hunters would come to the field at the back of our property to shoot mourning doves. After they had left for the day, I would go out and look for doves that had been wounded, but had evaded capture by the hunters.
There weren't too many successes, alas, but there were two of note. I found one dove that had suffered a glancing shot but appeared to have no broken bones. So I took it home, put it in an old bird cage, and gave it food and water for a couple of weeks. When it looked to be fully healed, I took it outside, cupped in my hands. I opened my hands and ... it flew away. Made me feel better for a long time.
The second dove I found had lost part of a wing, and there was no way it would ever fly again. But its wounds healed. I had that dove as a pet for several years. It eventually became quite tame, and would wander around the house like it owned the place. Sometimes, it'd perch on my shoulder while I was out roaming around.
The dove seemed to really like Christmas time, because it'd spend all day perched in the Christmas tree. My mother once took a picture of it perched atop the Christmas tree; I wish I had a copy, but on those occasions when I've visited and rummaged through the box containing all of her old photos, I've never been able to find it.
Man, I loved that dove.
I named it "Pacer," by the way, because of its habit of pacing back-and-forth in its cage when it was still getting used to being in captivity. The sort of name a kid would come up with. Pacer definitely recognized individual people. It* would always become agitated when I approached its cage, because that meant it was either going to get fed or let out to roam around the house. On the other hand, it didn't like my stepfather for some reason, and would throw seeds at him whenever he came within range.
*Mourning doves aren't sexually dimorphic, and like most birds, have no external genitalia. So there was no way for me to know whether Pacer was a male or female.
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
We had a pair of mourning doves who would raise babies in our umbrella pines every year. They were beautiful and charming and made the loveliest sounds. I can't even begin to imagine having to see them slaughtered regularly. People suck a lot.
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"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Re: More cute (overload!)
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