Gray foxes are smart, but perhaps squirrels are smarter? The squirrel in this fox chase evaded her pursuer for 10 very long minutes and escaped completely unharmed, if perhaps a little stressed out. You can hear her barking.
One of our YouTube livestream watchers, Mogens Trolle, alerted us to this wild drama. It happened at 6:30 am a few weeks ago, and Mogens had seen the fox and the squirrel both racing up a big tree that we watch with a ground-level camera. We took a look at a different camera’s wide view and were able to see the entire chase.
Gray foxes climb up trees with great skill, but they’re not able to control their descent so well, and the squirrel in this video clearly knew that. She was able to out-maneuver the fox every step of the way. She stayed on the opposite side of the tree trunk from the fox, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to successfully lunge at her and catch her. It was a master class in nerve and quick-wittedness.
When the fox finally gave up, the squirrel made a break for it and was in the next county before the fox made it back up to the top of the live oak tree.
This video opens with a brief, edited version of the chase; if you want to watch the entire event, just keep it rolling.
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