Squirrel Animal Symbolism and Facts

Here in Northwest Georgia, we have lots of squirrels. They love the hickory nuts and black walnuts on our property. My husband’s arch nemesis is a fat squirrel who loves to raid our birdfeeder on the back porch. For the Native Americans, squirrels were symbols of trust, preparedness, and thriftiness.

Trusting

Squirrels are one of the few wild animals that will eat out of a human’s hand. For as many times as my husband has chased away this fat squirrel, he still stopped to look at Dave through the window of our back door so I could shoot several photos of him. Evidently, he trusted that Dave wasn’t really going to do him any harm.

Preparedness and Thriftiness

From packing on extra weight for the winter to storing nuts in various locations, squirrels are known for their preparedness. Many squirrel stashes end up helping with forestation. Many trees are grown because squirrels buried nuts and never went back for them.

Intelligence

Squirrels make fake burial sites to make it look as if they’ve buried food in one place when they’ve really stashed it in another. This is to trick other squirrels or other creatures that might steal their food hoards. It’s estimated that squirrels lose 25% of their stash to thieves.

As you can see from my photographic proof, squirrels also can be innovative thieves themselves … stealing from bird feeders and outsmarting humans who try to put the feeders out of reach.

Squirrels are smart enough to run in erratic paths to keep predators like foxes or dogs from intercepting them.

Agility

They can jump 10 times their body length and can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can fall almost 100 feet without being hurt. Ordinary squirrels use their tail like a parachute. Then there are flying squirrels which can glide with their web-like features.

Squirrels also have a great sense of smell and can sniff out food under a foot of snow. A male squirrel can smell a female squirrel in heat from up to a mile away.

Squirrel Animal Totem Messages

When squirrels show up in your life, they could be reminding you to prepare for the future, to be a little more thrifty, or to utilize your intellect and agility to sidestep obstacles and achieve your goals. Or maybe there’s no spiritual message for you at all… maybe you put out a bird feeder and they can’t resist raiding an easy stash!