Hunters in Borneo aren’t fooled by the sounds of squirrels in the woods. They don’t confuse them with the sounds a walking or feeding deer makes. That doesn’t mean the pitter patter of hopping on dried leaves is a relief, though. The sound tells the hunters their competition is nearby.
When Bornean Dayak hunters come across a deer carcass with its insides on the outside and no signs of being eaten, they know a “vampire squirrel” has made another kill. No one knows for sure if the killing legends are true, but no one even knew the squirrel existed until recently, either.
The squirrel’s proper name is the Bornean tufted ground squirrel, likely for the large tufts of hair on each ear. The squirrel also has the bushiest tail of any squirrel on earth, with Smithsonian.com putting it at 130 percent of the squirrel’s body mass. The species has been occasionally photographed over the years, but the results were always fleeting and blurred. Researchers finally captured the animal on trail cameras, proving its existence one and for all. Even then, the mysterious creature only remained in the camera’s field of vision for fifteen brief seconds.
As impressive as the find is the finder. Emily Mae Meijaard of Jakarta, Indonesia, was only 15 years old when she wrote the scientific paper describing the animal. With help from her parents, she brought a once-mythical creature into the realm of scientific study.
A vampire squirrel lays in wait ready to drop down and disembowel an unsuspecting deer.
The Washington Post quoted Emily as saying, “Growing up in Indonesia and frequently visiting my grandparents in Scotland I have a seen many a squirrel, but nothing quite like this one.”
She hypothesizes that the tail is used to somehow ward off predators, as the climate in Borneo doesn’t get cold enough to warrant its use for warmth, and its ground-based lifestyle doesn’t require extra balance for jumping in trees. The mystery of the tail—and whether the squirrel actually kills deer—is something researchers will use trail cameras to solve.
Legend has the squirrels dropping from trees and disemboweling passing deer. The squirrels leave the backstraps and hams intact and feed on the vital organs instead. The dropping from trees scenario is unlikely, but the deer hunting may be true.
Emily’s father Erik pointed out a similar Bornean legend that was considered ludicrous by scientific minds but later proven true: Hunters routinely talked of mouse deer, diminuitive deer that have sharp canine teeth, hiding underwater to escape pursuing dogs. The stories were always written off as tribal lore until video proved the tactic was real.
Further study and use of game trail cameras should shed light on the deer-hunting, vampire-emulating, tufted ground squirrel of Borneo.
Cover Image: Smithsonian.com
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