Splooting squirrels on Staten Island? NYC Parks sheds light on this bizarre behavior. – SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Staten Island is the borough of parks.

Its also the borough of wildlife, particularly squirrels as many borough residents can attest to, the furry animals are in no short supply on our streets and backyards.

So its very possible youve encountered one of the critters lying on the ground with its arms and legs spread out in different directions during the steamy summer weve experienced.

Dont worry, the New York City Parks Department says.

Its actually a healthy activity the creatures are performing called splooting, designed to keep them cool on hot days.

If you see a squirrel lying down like this, dont worry; its just fine, said a Parks Department tweet this week, which included a photo of a sprawled out squirrel. On hot days, squirrels keep cool by splooting (stretching out) on cool surfaces to reduce body heat. It is sometimes referred to as heat dumping.

They arent the only animals that do it, either.

A PennLive.com article from 2020 explained:

Squirrels and chipmunks have always splooted, as have rabbits and foxes and raccoons and many, many other creatures. Birds have their own versions of the sploot. Squirrels also regularly sploot on tree branches.

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Splooting squirrels on Staten Island? NYC Parks sheds light on this bizarre behavior. - SILive.com