04 June 2004

Evolution

I saw a squirrel get hit by a car while walking home from work yesterday.



I had always assumed that squirrels, pigeons and other urban creatures had adapted to their surroundings to the point where they could thrive among people and concrete. Apparently this is a misguided assumption. The squirrel ran down a tree in front of me, zipped across the sidewalk and ran straight into the street. The approaching car wasn't moving that fast and was on the far side of the street. The squirrel ran straight onto the street and must've seen the car, but instead of stopping or turning he just gunned it straight ahead: under the car and clipped by the front driver's side wheel.



After the car went by I saw the squirrel lying motionless on the road. Then he convulsed. Then he was still. Then he started twitching again and finally started doing backflips and somersaults 3 feet in the air. His body was just flailing the muscles wildly. It was pretty awful and I wished I could put him out of his misery, but there wasn't much I could do. So I went home.



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