Tuttle Squirrel Conquers the Walnut

Tuttle’s very first success with walnuts. We were so proud!
Perhaps we should bronze them . . .

It was a long frustrating trial for him and quite an accomplishment. First the nuts were too big and he couldn’t hold them; then he could barely hold them; then he managed to hold them andturn them this way and that but was unable to crack the nut so to speak. We would find them whole, “squirreled” away around his enclosure hidden away in frustration. After all, he had almonds and hazelnuts and pine nuts – what did he need with a lousy old walnut anyway? Then one day I found one open and empty!! And immediately another! He had gone on a walnut orgy. Since then he has been cruelly dubbed Walnut Gut by Dondy the svelte (he now is a rather substantial squirrel). She didn’t help matters by bringing organic walnuts from her mother’s 150 year old trees in California. Then Linda visited him yesterday and cried out “My God, he has jowls!” She doesn’t help either because she keeps feeding him nuts which she freely admits she cannot resist. Then Amanda, who hasn’t seen him recently exclaimed “He has a gut!” as she went to give him a treat. The poor guy doesn’t stand a chance. And after all, a squirrel has to protect himself from potential starvation.

In one way his nut accomplishment is “cute” . . . but actually it is quite profound. Just how is it that a creature unfolds; develops awareness, coordination, and competence, each in their own individual and species way? It is a miraculous thing.

It is easy, when dealing with nature and life to go from any observation, to something astoundingly profound. If one keeps an open and inquiring mind, wonders truly never cease. And so thank you Tuttle for your breakthrough and the thoughts it brought forth. When we look adoringly at a beloved child, or animal companion, developing and unfolding as a being, we are sensing the miracle of it all.

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