A question I do not expect an answer to

[centuryplant]

Why is a squirrel licking the kitchen windowscreen?

ETA: there are YouTube videos showing the same behavior. Here's the best.

Comments

[zillah975]

*waves* Here from my network and have subscribed for your beautiful photography. Re: the squirrel, I'm not sure, but when I noticed that squirrels licked our patio and the brick of the house, I decided that maybe there were tiny mosses on it that they were licking up. Maybe something like that? or perhaps it's a mineral they need?

[centuryplant]

Glad you liked the photos!

I did wonder if the squirrels might lick metal because they need minerals, whether it actually does any good or not -- like a craving, maybe. That screen is also quite close to a mulberry tree and could possibly have tasty traces of mulberry on it, but I don't know why licking it would be preferable to eating the actual mulberries (which they also do).

They're certainly persistent. There's been a squirrel at that screen almost every day lately. I don't know if it's the same one or not. But this is definitely more entertaining than their other trick of chewing through the plastic accordion things on the sides of the window air conditioners and getting into the house.

[zillah975]

Oh, that's not a good trick at all. D: Much better to lick the screens.