Nature is a cruel, cruel beast.
Between predators, food scarcity, harsh climates, hunters, disease, traffic and/or farm equipment… it’s almost a miracle that they survive as long as they do.
And we’ve seen some survive some of the most BRUTAL conditions.
However, sometimes as a wild animal, you’re just flat out unlucky. Whether it’s a freak accident, birth defect that never gave you a chance, or just dumb luck… it’s hard out here on the wild.
The good people of Nature Is Metal, a great Instagram account if you want to see some of the wildest, most gnarliest things that the animal kingdom has to offer, shared this one recently, and man… I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like this.
This poor squirrel was spotted completely impaled on a tree branch… like it disobeyed the King on an episode of Game of Thrones and put on display for the rest of the woods to see.
There is a number of theories as to how this could’ve happened, whether it was just a poor jump, a slip and fall, dropped by a predator bird,
“Unlucky squirrel impaled by a tree branch. We’ve all seen these little acrobats defy gravity high up in their arboreal haunts, successfully jumping tree to tree with reckless abandon.
So what went wrong here?
Could have been poorly timed jump and a gust of wind. Maybe it was being chased by a large bird of prey and had to think fast, miscalculated and fell from up high. Or a combination of the two.
Maybe it was already dead and was dropped mid-carry by an owl or some other type of raptor.
Determining exactly how this happened is not possible, but seeing stuff like this is a constant reminder of how utterly unpredictable the natural world can be.”
Nature is metal, indeed.
