Orientation Day 3: Cuddling with an Arctic Ground Squirrel
WARNING: Prepare yourself for a ridiculous amount of cuteness in this blog post. I predict at least one involuntary “awww” from each person who reads this post. You have officially been warned!
After a morning of science and technology training at the conference center, the PolarTREC crew piled into a 15 passenger van and drove to the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Before I started my tour of the museum, Cory Williams, the scientist I am working with in Toolik, introduced me to Jeanette Moore, another member of the team researching Arctic ground squirrels (affectionately known as “Team Squirrel”). She is not sure when she will be in Toolik this summer, but expects our stays with overlap some. Cory and Jeanette prepared for a very special presentation while the PolarTREC teachers toured the museum.
Alicia Gillean with researchers Cory Williams and Jeanette Moore and a hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrel. (Photo taken by Zeb Polly)
The Museum of the North has unique Alaskan artwork, but more interesting to me were the exhibits on Alaska’s history, animals, and geology. I was particularly intrigued by a stuffed Arctic fox because it was so much smaller than I thought. In fact, it was not much larger than your average house cat. These foxes like to eat Arctic ground squirrels, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I might get to see a live one when I am in Toolik.
The Arctic fox is one of the predators of the Arctic ground squirrel
After an hour, we all gathered together in a traveling exhibit about hibernation where Cory and Jeanette talked a bit about the Arctic ground squirrels and hibernation. That is a topic for another post. For now, we need to get to the highlight of my week. The University of Alaska Fairbanks has a lab devoted to studying Arctic ground squirrels, complete with hibernating squirrels. Jeanette brought one to the museum for us to see. Not only did we get to see the hibernating squirrel, we each got to take a turn holding it (after we put on gloves to protect it from our germs)!
Alicia Gillean holds an Arctic Ground Squirrel with Cory Williams nearby.
The hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrel slept while she was passed from teacher to teacher.
The hibernating Arctic ground squirrel stayed asleep, curled into a ball or spread out on its back for over half an hour while we passed it from person to person and touched its chest to see how cold it was (I’ll get into why it was so cold in a later post). Eventually, it roused a bit, yawning a stretching, multiplying the cute factor by about 100. As you can see in this picture, it took me by surprise when the sleeping squirrel actually moved, but it went right back to sleep. When I arrive in Toolik at the end of May, the squirrels will no longer be hibernating, so the next squirrel that I hold will be a bit feistier!
Alicia Gillean is surprised by yawning squirrel while standing with Jeanette Moore (Photo taken by Zeb Polly)
It was so exciting to see the critter that I will be studying this summer and to spend time with two of the members of the research team. In two months, my adventure begins!
Hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrel stretches and yawns (Photo taken by Zeb Polly)
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