... which leads to...
http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=11492iSquirrel...! probably a NEXUS series...
btw - although the original article relates mostly to the Eastern Grey (Sciurus Carolinensis, so wonderfully incumbent upon our shores...) and relates to their ruggedness and determination, I know from experience how prone to shock they are...
A couple of weeks back and whilst heading home I spotted one in the road, about 8" from the kerbstones on a grass verged, tree-lined area, and, as is my wont, I braked sharply (p*ss*ng off a few drivers) and backed up to just in front of the critter, got out and checked her condition... I asked a couple of questions (I do talk to critters; they don't reply that often, but I understand pain) prior to attempting handling - a prudent poke with the finger illicited a minor response, and a second, which confirmed the spinal chord was intact, and with careful guidance (of the steel toe-capped boot - I've handled them - I know what it is like to
run your hand under a sewing machine needle) got her over to the fence 10 yards from the road, but she still wanted to cross the road - eventually, I decided to pick her up by the tip of the tail and place her on the other side of the fence, with a stern warning not to cross until she had regained her senses...
No modified squirrel marks in the road or area since, so she either took the hint or curled up and died somewhere - largest injured animal I've handled is a fox, and largest
displaced wild creature is a swan from the edge of a motorway (think 6 lane highway), and riskiest is a kestrel from the centre of a main road (which I blocked with my van) and a quick dash onto the onslip of a 6 lane single way motorway, in a snowstorm, to uplift a barn-owl... both of these avians just needed a warm up/kept in the dark for a short while before I released them back into the wild - the swan had to be held for about 20 minutes before the police turned up with a swan-bag to transfer her back to the thames from where she crash-landed...
