scorecard
  1. Home
  2. Latest
  3. Scientists have finally caught the first video of the bushy-tailed, blood-eating vampire squirrel in the wild

Scientists have finally caught the first video of the bushy-tailed, blood-eating vampire squirrel in the wild

Rebecca Harrington   

Scientists have finally caught the first video of the bushy-tailed, blood-eating vampire squirrel in the wild
Latest2 min read

The elusive squirrel that can take down a dear has finally been captured on video in the jungles of Borneo.

With the fluffiest tail of any mammal compared to its teeny body size, the vampire squirrel is a terrifying, but adorable creature.

Also known as the tufted ground squirrel, it reportedly lurks in the trees and leaps on an unsuspecting deer, slashes its jugular, and disembowels it - though we don't know a ton about the squirrel's biology so this could an urban legend.

When it's not drinking blood, the squirrel mostly survives on canarium tree nuts, which are super hard and difficult to open. Scientists have no idea how they do it.

Researchers from the University of Michigan and Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand were studying the squirrel with camera traps in the Gunung Palung National Park, when they were the first to catch this little blood-sucking fluff-monster on film, according to Science.

Conservation scientist Erik Meijaard, of People and Nature Consulting International in Jakarta, and his wife, Rona Dennis, have also been studying the squirrel with camera traps.

They reported last year in a study published in the journal Taprobonica that the vampire squirrel had the bushiest tail of any mammal. Their 15-year-old daughter Emily Mae Meijaard analyzed the photos, Science reported, and determined that the squirrel's tail is almost a third larger than its body.

So cute, and so deadly.

Check out the full video, uploaded to YouTube by Science Magazine, below:

NOW WATCH: Inside The Void: An exclusive look at the future of virtual reality

READ MORE ARTICLES ON


Advertisement

Advertisement