Squirrel Tails

A while back I wrote about the local ground squirrels being immune to rattlesnake venom. Apparently they have other defensive tools at their disposal. They can raise the temperature of their tails which confuses or distracts the rattlesnake which uses temperature sensors to find its prey. Interestingly, the squirrel knows the difference between snakes and does not use this defence against gopher snakes.

Check out this Sacramento Bee article for more details.