I’ve often said, “Squirrels are just ‘glorified rats.’” Also, as a former logger, I’ve said, “There can be surprises when felling a tree.” Last fall, while cutting down a dead oak for firewood, I had a few big surprises.
- The tree didn’t fall like it was supposed to. It actually broke into several sections as it fell because part way up the tree there was a hollow section. When the dust settled, most of the tree had fallen where I wanted it to go, but some of the hollow part lay splintered on the ground, and the top section of the tree was perpendicular to the direction of fall and leaning up against other trees. In other words, it was a mess.
- The biggest surprise was spying a flying squirrel clinging to the fallen tree and realizing that I had unknowingly cut down its nest tree. I guess it made me momentarily forget about wanting to see a flying squirrel’s pink belly. I didn’t think about grabbing the squirrel with my gloved hands and taking it home where I could’ve shone my UV light on it to see its belly hairs fluoresce pink. It’s probably best I didn’t think of that.
- As I looked at the little cutie, some questions popped into my head, and later as I pursued the answers, I turned into a truffle hunter. Imagine that!
You see, as I watched the flying squirrel, the question popped into my head, What does it do? In other words, What does it eat? Who are its friends and enemies? What purpose does a flying squirrel serve? etc.
I soon found out that truffles (not the chocolate kind, but mushrooms) are one of the things flying squirrels eat. The thought of that “glorified rat” feasting on truffles—those highly-sought-after culinary delights—put another thought into my head. Could I just go out into the woods and find truffles?
Why, yes, I could. So, surprisingly, the encounter with the flying squirrel got me started hunting for truffles.
Here’s a bit of background information on truffles. Truffles are the fruiting bodies of fascinating fungi which are part of the ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECM) group. These symbiotic fungi have a beneficial relationship with various kinds of woody plants like oak trees. This symbiotic relationship works somewhat like this. The miles and miles of fungal strands in the soil are mining and gathering up minerals and water. The fungi exchange these nutrients for sugars and carbon from the trees and bushes. So this relationship is a good thing for both the fungi and the trees.
If you get a chance, it is incredible to look at the mycorrhizal roots (caused by truffle-forming fungi or other ECM) under the microscope. Simply dig up a small oak sapling and carefully rinse off the roots. You should be able to see clusters of stubby, modified rootlets which are the mycorrhizal roots called ECM short roots. With those ECM short roots under the microscope, you can see a sheath or mantle of hyphae (fungal strands) and maybe even many radiating hyphae surrounding the short roots.
If you cut the ECM short roots and look at them in cross section, you might be able to see the hyphal strands growing around and down between the individual outer root cells. What you are seeing is the Hartig net, which is the interface where the exchange of nutrients happens. Incredible, isn’t it? It is definitely more interesting to see it for yourself than to just read about it.
Back to the flying squirrel, or rather, the thought of that “glorified rat” feasting on highly-sought-after culinary delights (truffles), well, that’s by design. Those underground mushrooms smell and taste delicious so that flying squirrels and other animals will dig them up to eat. The fungal spores then pass through their digestive systems and inoculate soil in other locations. So, our pink-bellied flying squirrel serves the purpose of helping to spread around friendly and beneficial fungi for many trees of the forest.
I’m sharing this story about my encounter with a little flying squirrel in hopes that perhaps you’ll decide to add some interesting things to do to your “bucket list”—like using a UV light to see pink-bellied flying squirrels, or truffle hunting, or maybe even digging up some oak roots to see the fungal mantle on ECM short roots. Just watch out for surprises.
A few things to note:
- There are other symbiotic fungi besides the ECM’s. Arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) are a whole other network.
- There are many species of ECMs that are not truffle-forming fungi.
- Not all truffles are edible. I’m presently a truffle hunter just to see them and smell them.
- The flying squirrel I saw was a Southern flying squirrel, which does eat truffles but apparently doesn’t specialize in eating them like the Northern flying squirrel.
Editor’s note: To see the pink fluorescence of a flying squirrel, my advice is to attract the squirrels to a feeder at night. Sunflower seeds may do it. They are really fond of pecans too. Position a “tree” post near your house for them to glide to/from, and put seeds or nuts nearby.
Mr. Lee Rentz had a motion sensing light on his setup. When it came on, he checked for a squirrel. By shining a 365 nm UV flashlight, he could see and photograph bright pink bellies and neon blue ears.
Opossums also fluoresce, as do the undersides of the wings of a Northern Saw-whet Owl. It makes me wonder how many nighttime critters fluoresce, and how many of them can see this color.
