Chubby squirrel on the Wartburg College campus, 10 January 2016. Photo: Wartburg College

By Kate Ng
6 January 2016 (Independent) – Grey squirrels in Britain are fatter than usual thanks to an exceptionally warm winter, which has produced an abundance of food for them to help themselves to. Squirrels usually get plump around this time of the year, but the warmest December on record has seen them get even chubbier. Temperatures last December were on average 7.9 degrees, 4.1 degrees above the long-term average. Meteorologists at the Met Office said the UK had a “virtual complete lack of frost”, which offered up plenty of food for the squirrels to forage. According to nature observer and TV presenter Iolo Williams, the mild yet rainy weather means there has been “no shortage of nuts, seeds, and fungi”. #fatsquirrel [more]

Squirrels Are Getting Seriously Tubby From The Warm Winter Weather