Why are squirrels so jumpy and why are Black Bears cowards ?

JamesGatz

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I think we should have a discussion on the true nature of squirrels - I notice that squirrels typical diet (nuts) is high in PUFA - Every squirrel I meet seems to exhibit high-serotonin behavior and seems to jump away at the first sign of trouble. I saw this degenerate video on YouTube of a squirrel getting drunk and it seems very relaxed - is there any reason why a squirrel's natural state should be as jumpy as they are or do they only exhibit this behavior because HIGH PUFA leads them to be high-serotonin


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM88FxiByoE&ab_channel=Fifty7Ave



I notice that black bears are also "cowards" when compared to other bears - they seem to run away from people or from trouble back when I was camping all the time - people say that it is their "genetics" and that they are naturally docile animals but is it really so ? Black bears tend to eat a lot of PUFA (Human food from campsites) and don't tend to have similar behavior to other bears that are more aggressive/protective that tend to eat other animals (grizzlies for example) - Is a black bear's true nature to be docile or is it the PUFA diet that makes it act cowardly ? good questions to ask...
 
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Green Dot

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I'm certain squirrel have an anatomy that shapes it's metabolism to thrive on high PUFA food, similarly to birds.
 

Mauritio

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Read my thread on PUFA and tyw's article on birds and PUFA.

Some species might simply have higher plasmalogen to protect from higher membrane unsaturation . In some species dietary PUFA intake has a remarkably low effect on membrane unsaturation...
 

Dr. B

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I'm certain squirrel have an anatomy that shapes it's metabolism to thrive on high PUFA food, similarly to birds.
i thought there were posts here saying squirrels only have nuts when theyre closer to hibernating
 

LeeLemonoil

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If the OPs hypothesis on squirrels was correct then there isn’t anything wrong with them eating pufas.

It helped their species to evolve and survive up until today. That’s the entire mechanism and way of evolution. It worked.

If we put value on exhibited behavior and muse of they would „live better“ or different when on another diet that’s absolutely legitimate.
But let’s never forget that sero and estro species - and humans - can manage to sirvive and even dominate.

Humans civilization is on the brink of being completely manipulated to favour the survival of such Kinds
 

Gustav3Y

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Black bears have been the same before eating PUFA from human campsites as PUFA oils in massive quantities are relatively recent in human history and that being said in black bear history too.
Something that needs to be taken into account, there is more than what you can see today to this world and it's species.
Squirrels have relied on nuts as diet forever.

Wild boars eat acorns too when they are available, people would eat wild boars, worth mentioning in comparison to black bears and squirrels.
Not only eaten but also appreciated in European history, from being used as symbols or even mythologized.
 
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JamesGatz

JamesGatz

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I'm certain squirrel have an anatomy that shapes it's metabolism to thrive on high PUFA food, similarly to birds.
Read my thread on PUFA and tyw's article on birds and PUFA.

Some species might simply have higher plasmalogen to protect from higher membrane unsaturation . In some species dietary PUFA intake has a remarkably low effect on membrane unsaturation...
i thought there were posts here saying squirrels only have nuts when theyre closer to hibernating

Yes - But I recall on Ray's website that bears when getting ready to hibernate eat a lot more PUFA like Mr.Bollox said - I'm thinking if a squirrel was raised on a peaty diet it would not exhibit the high-serotonin behavior that it does ? That seems to be the case with other animals that I raised

If the OPs hypothesis on squirrels was correct then there isn’t anything wrong with them eating pufas.

It helped their species to evolve and survive up until today. That’s the entire mechanism and way of evolution. It worked.

If we put value on exhibited behavior and muse of they would „live better“ or different when on another diet that’s absolutely legitimate.
But let’s never forget that sero and estro species - and humans - can manage to sirvive and even dominate.

Humans civilization is on the brink of being completely manipulated to favour the survival of such Kinds

Black bears have been the same before eating PUFA from human campsites as PUFA oils in massive quantities are relatively recent in human history and that being said in black bear history too.
Something that needs to be taken into account, there is more than what you can see today to this world and it's species.
Squirrels have relied on nuts as diet forever.

Wild boars eat acorns too when they are available, people would eat wild boars, worth mentioning in comparison to black bears and squirrels.
Not only eaten but also appreciated in European history, from being used as symbols or even mythologized.

Black bears I think eat lots of PUFA in their diets I think even besides campsites - I remember reading when they are getting ready to hibernate they ingest lots of PUFA - I hear people say that black bears evolved to be docile because they were around since the Ice Age or something and all the ones that were not docile died off because the docile ones climbed trees and such to avoid predators or ran away
 

Gustav3Y

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Where could the black bears be getting a high PUFA diet in in the past in the wild (non-human contact), I am asking this for real.

Regarding climbing trees, I have seen lots of videos with scared young brown bears that climbed trees, in the end their grow up to not be considered scared bears, the brown ones, but the technique is employed at need by them too.
 
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JamesGatz

JamesGatz

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Where could the black bears be getting a high PUFA diet in in the past in the wild (non-human contact), I am asking this for real.

Regarding climbing trees, I have seen lots of videos with scared young brown bears that climbed trees, in the end their grow up to not be considered scared bears, the brown ones, but the technique is employed at need by them too.


" Due to the long hibernation period, American black bears prefer foods that are high in fat, sugar, and protein. Black bears are classified as carnivores.

However, the American black bear does have a varied diet. Although this includes large ungulates such as caribou, deer, elk, moose, and wapiti, it is also made up of plant matter and fruits.

Black bears will also eat many different species of fish, along with birds and eggs. They will also eat various types of insects, including bees and wasps."
 
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JamesGatz

JamesGatz

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" Due to the long hibernation period, American black bears prefer foods that are high in fat, sugar, and protein. Black bears are classified as carnivores.

However, the American black bear does have a varied diet. Although this includes large ungulates such as caribou, deer, elk, moose, and wapiti, it is also made up of plant matter and fruits.

Black bears will also eat many different species of fish, along with birds and eggs. They will also eat various types of insects, including bees and wasps."
It seems even besides all the PUFA the bears eat in plants and such - all the animals they eat are also on high PUFA diets - it seems like the entire forest food chain is on PUFA and it seems to be that all the animals in the forest exhibit serotonergic behavior - on the animals I experimented with peaty diets - they are a lot more relaxed and don't exhibit this behavior
 

EustaceBagge

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I think black bears just want to avoid conflict in general. Even though black bears are strong, if they fight against an opponent that can scratch their eye or hurt one of their limbs... that is mostly permanent and it is better they avoid situations like these.

Whether pufa influences their behaviour I'm not sure. Maybe the pufa increases estrogen and thus influences brain chemistry by altering hormone balance?
 

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