This little guy knew that he buried some left-over winter food somewhere and after searching around, he found it.
It was the mining magnate, Cecil John Rhodes that brought the grey squirrels to the Cape colony in the 1800s. He was the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in South Africa during 1890-1896.
Now if you want to see more about the fauna in South Africa, the Source link below will blow your mind.
The Cape ground squirrel is common in arid areas and often shares its burrows with mongooses and meerkats and is known to use its bushy tail as an umbrella from the harsh sun. There are tree squirrels, one of which is an introduced species: the eastern grey squirrel, introduced in Cape Town by Cecil John Rhodes from Europe. The rest, such as Paraxerus cepapi, are found in the savanna biome in the north-east of the country.
Source
Oh yes, he saw me and waited to see if I would charge at him.
Look how carefully he sat and studied me.
Right! He decided he was safe and he popped down from the tree.
I immediately knew that he buried something somewhere, and he was now searching for it.
He found it and scurried back up the tree at speed, so I couldn't see what he found.
But I didn't allow him to get away that easily.
I still could not make out what he was eating.
Ah! Finally, I saw that it was a Jacaranda tree seed pod.
Years ago we came down from far up north on a short holiday to Cape Town, and we visited a place called the Company Gardens. It was the first time that we saw the squirrels, and when one enters the gate a lady was sitting and selling small packets of peanuts. We wondered what it was for, and assumed that it was for children to eat. In the meantime, we saw people hand feeding the squirrels with the small packets of peanuts. So we immediately went back to the lady to get some peanuts and it was the first time that wild squirrels ate peanuts out of our hands.
Far up north where we came from there were no squirrels, but way down here in the south of the country there were plenty of them.
Now we live here, and as you see we get to enjoy the squirrels on a daily basis.
I hope you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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