Squirrel Action Shot

Squirrel Action Shot
Originally uploaded by doctorlizardo.

This squirrel was skittish of coming close, but was leaping from branch to branch for the peanuts I tossed up into the tree for her. I could probably have just held one up and waited patiently, but it was fun tossing them.

Here you can see her little paw sticking out to try to catch the peanut.

She would have eventually caught one, too, if some guy hadn't come over to try to "help" me, and instantly scared her off into another tree entirely.

I was very disappointed. She had been doing such great tricks, and I was about to reward her!

Then I had to pretend to listen nicely while this amateur told me in all seriousness about how campus squirrels were bored with peanuts ("they can get peanuts anytime!"), and adored cookies instead.

Which is an exactly wrong argument -- rodents generally prefer familiar food items overall, and usually take a while to cautiously acclimate to new foods. (Not to say that campus squirrels might not be used to cookies at this point.)

It's an evolutionary device meant to reduce the risk of being poisoned. Humans have it too, especially in childhood. Hence those "picky eaters".