Narcoleptic squirrel


From YouTube: We had this wild gray squirrel in our back yard that I could never get on film that kept passing out. I finally left the video camera on the kitchen counter on a regular basis trying to catch it on film. Over a few months of filming I was able to get two minutes on film. The amazing thing here is that it lived in 80 foot tall trees and we saw it for a period of six months.

Awwww… poor thing.

 via

19 thoughts on “Narcoleptic squirrel”

  1. I’m no expert but that doesn’t appear to be narcolepsy. Had to be a pedant but its more likely a nervous system problem. It’d be funnier if it was narcolepsy

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  2. yeah, i’m with Jack – doesn’t seem to be narcolepsy at all. looks more like seizures. a quick google search pulls up this link: http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/epilepsy.htm — i don’t know how authoritative that site may or may not be.

    i’m thinking it must have to do with a temporary condition imposed on the animal during the time it is shown eating (though perhaps not having to do with the food?). if it were to fall over while in an 80 foot tree it be unlikely to survive long enough to grow to this mature size.

    really a very sad video. want to see a happy squirrel video?
    http://www.youtube.com/bitflung#p/a/u/0/dIU8_flTCxc

    i put this video together a few years ago, unfortunately youtube nuked the soundtrack, including elements that were distinctly NOT in violation of some RIAA imposed copyright. so in the middle there is text that refers to an audio event, just pretend you heard it. maybe i’ll fix the audio from my original copy and re-upload it.

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  3. I raised a squirrel with a broken leg that healed improperly and he would do this every time he ate. The unsteadiness/shake of the squirrel in the video leads me to agree with Dave, however, and that it’s probably its nervous system. (The lighter side: it looks like it’s managing well.)

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  4. Jonco, there is a classic drunk squirrel video on youtube that would fit. Apparently the squirrel was eating a fermented pumpkin and it was hilarious watching it trying to climb a tree.

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  5. I’m not a vet and I don’t care about your diagnoses – its a floppy squirrel that’s caught in a constant gravity quake, and that’s more than enough to make it into Maffu’s Big Book of Funny.

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  6. That video reminds me of my first year of college: coming home from a party off-campus, I walked through the Quad. There were motion-activated lights that suddenly flashed on and I’m suddenly amid hundreds of rabbits. There had been a party earlier and tons of beer cans were strewn around with various amounts of residual brew. The bunnies had gotten into it and were in various states of intoxication as I walked through… strangest thing I had ever seen — hopping sideways, falling over, running around randomly.

    At the time, I thought it was hilarious. Now, I have two separate thoughts – one: poor bunnies, and two: I wonder if they built up a tolerance over time

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  7. How sad. This is due to either a closed-head injury or the squirrel was infected with raccoon roundworm. Both will affect the central nervous system and cause this type of instability.

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