We’ve all heard of The Fox and the Hound, but how about the fox and the squirrel?
On the list of nature’s most elusive animals, squirrels have to be pretty high up there. Maybe not in the top three, but they’ve still got some underrated athleticism…
This matchup with a fox and a squirrel turned out to be a pretty good battle, and one that the bushy-tailed rodent probably thought it was going to win. There were plenty of epic moments in this chase down that was caught on camera, but as things often go in nature and in life, only one could end up winning.
At first the fox has the squirrel with its back against the wall (literally), leaving the rodent to dart back and forth in front of some nicely manicured landscaping. The squirrel is admittedly fast, but the fox’s speed apparently hasn’t been talked about enough.
For just a second, the squirrel dives into the bushes and loses the fox, and probably should have stayed put. The fox was frozen in place trying to figure out where the little thing went, and only found out where it was when the squirrel revealed itself as it made a beeline to a nearby tree.
The tree always seems to be the “safety net” for squirrels. It’s their favorite, go-to spot anytime things get a little hairy, but seeking it out in this situation actually ended up being a bad idea. The squirrel is mere feet away from the tree when the fox cuts it off, and then its game on.
Both animals zig and zag back and forth for a couple of seconds, and as the squirrel continues to alternate back and forth, the fox thinks quick on its feet and begins to see things as they are about to happen. Doing so allows for the fox to think a couple of steps ahead, and it goes in for the kill.
A last ditch effort from the squirrel to get to the tree ultimately becomes its last move, right before the fox says “checkmate” and snatches up the rodent into its mouth and begins to run off. It wasn’t an easy dinner to track down, but it ended up being dinner nonetheless.
Take a look at the showdown between the fox and the squirrel below:
