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NEWSCAN

Scent of a snake

Photo: AFP

Effective deterrant: The sloughed skin of a rattlesnake.

To mask their odour from rattlesnakes, California ground squirrels and rock squirrels chew on sloughed-off snake skin and smear it on their fur, according to a new study. The act most likely persuades the predators that another snake, not a squirrel, is in the area. “To our knowledge this is the first case where this idea has been tested systematically and shown to have an anti-predator function-protecting the squirrel from rattlesnake predation,” said study le ad author Barbara Clucas, a graduate student in animal behaviour at the University of California, Davis. Rattlers and other snakes usually prey on baby squirrels, because the adults have proteins in their blood that make them immune to snake venom. Pups, on the other hand, aren’t big enough to resist the poison.

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Young World

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