Don’t laugh… it’s aerodynamic.
I was going to use a series of photos I took of this park squirrel to discuss a different point for this week’s Saturday Squirrel, but it was impossible for me to look at them and not notice something else that sticks out like a sore thumb… or maybe I should say sore ear. Check out that notable notch in his right ear!
I’ll bet he shops at Hot Topic.
Unlike humans who only want to be hipsters unique, squirrels don’t willingly mutilate themselves and then call it a body mod you’re not allow to judge them by. That notch looks too clean to be natural, so I’m 
wondering if our city park doesn’t have some sort of program to “tag” certain squirrels for identification purposes. In trying to do some research on this (without encountering the sickening posts of those who hunt these beautiful creatures), I came across a popular program that notches the ears of spayed or neutered feral cats that are returned to roam neighborhoods without adding to Bob Barker’s pet population. I wonder what this squirrel did to deserve its notch? Did they take away its nuts? Inject it with some bizarre test vaccine? Declare him to be the sciurine king?
Or maybe he did get that notch for beauty purposes… because I have to admit, it does add to his natural adorability. Congratulations to The Nest’s first ever emo Saturday Squirrel!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
Either a tag…or from a fight..a few roos have those and i know they are not tagged so from fighting or getting heads caught on wire fences..still might be emos 🙂 any dark eyeliner and sullen faces? 🙂
It would be cool to see a squirrel with its tail dyed black or purple. It would probably be hard to run up a tree in combat boots, though…
It could store nuts in those giant earplug holes…ewwwww 🙂
I sure hope he still has his nuts!
Ick, notched nuts! The thought is so revolting!
He may have had an earring that got ripped off his ear during a fight…..well…..it’s possible isn’t it?
Pam
You never know… I’m sure they like shiny things and might have found a lost earring on the ground before. As long as they aren’t hoop earrings, which might have a tendency to make their running and jumping through trees just a tad dangerous…
Or he and another critter got into a heated political debate and one thing led to another …
So he cut off his ear to spite his face. Though I’d like to think squirrels are too civilized to engage in such things as politics…
Quite a few of the squirrels are here are missing pieces of their ears but that cut does look really clean and even. The squirrel also looks really pretty hanging upside down on the tree bark against that beautifully blurred green background!
That was going to be my original angle on this squirrel… how squirrels like to eat upside down! But I kept looking at that notch and it hijacked my train of thought…
There are people who hunt squirrels? 😦
Maybe this guy is part of an elite group hunting squirrel hunters, and that notch marks his first 10 kills.
Dreadful people… I’ll bet Prince Charles shoots ten greys a day since he has nothing better to do than complain about them…
I’ll have to keep that last thought in mind, as it might work into one of my final two Friday prompts…
I had one that had a similar problem. I haven’t seen him recently. I figured it was from scrapping with another squirrel – kind-of like a battle scar like you see cats get that people allow to roam free. They end up battered, too.
I’m surprised they don’t end up more battered given how often I see them going at each other. But this guy’s cut seems more surgical than street fight…
Poor little fella.
kewl shoT! 🙂