Any book with the phrase “rising body temperatures trigger arousal” is bound to be a page-turner, so when alert reader Arial R. sent us this, noting “I found this in a book at the library and thought it was oh-so-adorable,” that set our tails a-twitchin’.
Let us now examine the sleeping habits of our friend, the squirrel — who is, to put it charitably, not a morning person. (This will be on your final exam, by the way.)
This is exactly how I sleep on cold winter nights
‘specially the 5th pic with the face smoosh into the bed
Where is this magical book published that they call what any Northerner would recognize as a chipmunk a squirrel? So cute! Honk-shus little chippy!
LOL!
Reminds me of a joke!
It’s early spring, and the Mole family awakens from their winter nap. Mother and Father Mole stick their heads out of the Mole hole. Papa Mole says, “I smell the rain, and the lovely crocuses! Come and smell the lovely smells of spring, Baby Mole!” Mama Mole says “The family in the house is cooking breakfast! I smell bacon and eggs! Can you smell the delicious breakfast, Baby Mole?”
But Baby Mole couldn’t get past his parents, who were firmly wedged in the hole opening. So he grumbled, “All I can smell is mole asses!”
@Cashew: because it is a squirrel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden-mantled_ground_squirrel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipmunk
@Theresa
Is that where the phrase “Slower than mole asses in January” comes from?
Such a coy look in picture # 6!
Love pic numearo three: Blarg, I am not quite dead…no really, look, I’m twitching!
On cold nights? This looks like me every night and in the morning. Well, except for that last pic. That’s after the second cup of coffee.
Picture #3! The little piddee up in the air….
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
haha also reminds me of my dog in her mega-napping… all that’s missing is a full on ssstttreeeeeaaaayyytttchhhhh at pic 7
@260Oakley and @Theresa
HAH!
Cue the British accent….
sidewayz squirrel ruuuulez!
Definitely a chipmonk!
My dear friend Mr. Google found me a page that clearly shows the difference between chipmunks and GMGS, with an added bonus [snerk] of discussing bacula and baubellum. Perfectly SFW, though your tail might twitch!
http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/chipmunks.html
omg the 3rd pic is tooo cute!
haha – nice including jamin in the hovertext
@theresa – hahaha
The first time I saw a ground squirrel, I thought it was some sort of interbred squirrel-chipmunk hybrid experiment or something. “What are these chipmunks with squirrel tails?” I asked myself.
Am I the only one who hears the voice of Sir David Attenborough in their head while reading this?
Thank you Mike for the individual hovertexts.
Richard Simmons by the way, is immortal. A hundred years from now he’ll still be running around in his glitter hot pants.
Very adorabuhls…very.
@Nynke – I do, too!
NOMTOM, how many tails do you have?
when the images are wider than your template like this, they end up with all the sidebar ads on top of them, which means they’re illegible to a large degree.
so sad!!
You can almost see the drool in the 5th pic.
@Cholmondeley – thanks for the link.
Another note on GMGS vs Chippies, I don’t think that chippies hibernate.
Where i live this is a picture of a chipmunk
I’ve been acquainted with a number of squirrelies in my time, and that’s for sure a GMGS (ROUS?!). I recall waking in a sleeping bag in Bryce Canyon Nat’l Park with one of those little boogers jumping on me. So cute, so feisty.
@ Miss Ruth: then where do they go in winter? Because my garden chippie, Monster, disappears in his burrow each winter and then reappears in mid-april to help me clean the yard.
Darn it’s diabolical cuteness!!!
I’m completely identifying with this critter, right up until the ‘scamper out of its burrow’. ‘Sluggishly dragging self out burrow’ is a much more reasonable start to the day. ‘Scampering’ doesn’t happen until a little more solar energy can be applied directly.
All this talk about squirrels has reminded me of two random things from my past.
1. Years ago I read a book about a family that adopted a wild squirrel named Skippy. (OK, I guess they gave him that name, I don’t think he came from the wild already named. No, I didn’t name my cat after the squirrel. His name came from a comment on Car Talk.)
2. My favorite library school professor, may he rest in peace, told us about how he grew up hunting squirrels for food in the hills of Ohio. It was one of the many things that made him fascinating.
That is some advanced hovertexting NOMTOM! Bravo!
curl, 2, 3, and stretch, 2, 3, and lift, 2, 3, and rest, 2, 3…
The hovertext is a riot! Very well done. Those little chippies are all over the desert here. Little clowns with racing stripes. They are amazingly fast too. I’ve seen them do a somersault when running and trying to stop too quickly for a morsel of food.
Squirrel pr0n?
My girlfriend says I sleep like a hamster (hands tucked up under my chin) I obviously have to forward this to her, because with that twitchy leg, she is a total ground squirrel!
And the Gold Star goes to NOMTOM for hovertext above and beyon the call funny.
i feel that positions #1 and #3 are the most redonkulous of the lot.
@Cashew
At first I thought it was a chipmunk also, then i realized it was probably a douglas squirrel. Some of the positions and tail just make it look a little more chipmunk like. That and we cant really tell the size.
these drawings are awesome! I love #3! You can tell that whoever wrote and illustrated this page must truly love the little critters.
this is adorable! those drawings are amazing!
Cute! Love the little guy’s stretchinks.
Did anyone else first think this is a “My Name is Earl” reference?
The squirrels at my school don’t hibernate (although they are the huge gray kind, not the kind pictured). They just dig pizza out of the dumpsters all winter long. I have no idea where they sleep- it gets really cold at night here.
Ha Ha Ha, my cat sleeps in postition three all year round!
@debunix (27) you took the words right out of my mouth. “scamper” doesn’t come into play at my house but the rest of the description sounds just like me. Although, I’m not nearly as cute as this guy. Or girl.
I remember that picture. I had that book, although I can’t remember which one it was. Anyone know?
So they can really live without eating for those months? Fascinating.
My tarantula has gone eight months without eating; the longest fast survived by a tarantula of her breed was 14 months with fresh water nearby.
Does anyone know where I can get a high-quality version of this? Would luuuurve to print it out a large scale version and frame it for my wall.
@AnnieStuart – jumping squizzies *and* a garden chippie? some peeps have all the luck!
we don’t get squizzies or chipmunks where i live
@260Oakley and @Theresa I second the
HAH!
HAH HAH!
Most awesomest hovertexts evar. NTMTOM I salute you!
Kitty George sleeps like pic #2 or #4, Isabella like #1 or #3! I, too ♥ the fancy hover-textering! Thanks, NOMTOM!
this is weirdly one of the most adorable things I’ve seen on this site-and that is saying a lot.
@ Sam, that’s not a Douglas squirrel. Douglas squirrels are tree-dwellers, not ground squirrels and they have no stripes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Squirrel
If you read the text (and the comments) it’s a golden-mantled ground squirrel.
Wahhhhhhhhh!!!! Look at that stretchy-outie foot! I could pass out! First the kibble dance dog, then the tooting chihuahua, and then this wee foot!
I am officially cute overload-ed!
When was the book published?
Wonderful job, NOMTOM!
SO CUTE. Can we get the artist to do some work exclusively for CO?
Hmm neat a page out of a book…
How about a video of a sleeping and yawning chipmunk instead? :3
Sorry to be an insufferable know-it-all, but to summarize…
ground squirrels hibernate truly and deeply
chipmunks hibernate but shallowly
squirrels do not hibernate at all
My undergrad thesis has to do with chipmunk hibernation so I feel this qualifies me to make statements on comment forms on the internet… and that’s about all.
)
It doesn’t seem like anyone’s listed the name of the actual book. For the interested, I managed to track it down with some help from Google Book search and my local library. It’s titled Joy of Nature: How to Observe and Appreciate the Great Outdoors, from Reader’s Digest, editor Alma E. Guinness, copyright 1977. The picture is on page 65.