Saturday, November 5, 2022

Tompkins Square Park: The Case Of The Falling Squirrel


  (Drivebycuriosity) - This afternoon my wife and I went to Tompkins Square Park in our neighborhood. The weather was great (about 70F). We were sitting on a bench. I was reading my Kindle, a Science Fiction novel.

Suddenly there was a sharp THUD. 

An awful noise! A dying - or already dead - black squirrel appeared on the ground, maybe 3 inches from my right foot. Shocking!

What happened? The animal fell between 2 large trees (American Elm?) whose branches spread above us, landing splat onto the asphalt. Maybe the animal was close to the top of the tree? It might have tried to jump from branch to branch - and miscalculated. Who knows? 

It was a shock for us. Just like a horror movie.  

What would have happened if the squirrel it had fallen on my head? 

Or worse, on my wife's? 

A squirrel weighs 1 to 1.5 pounds. 

And it hit ground at a very high speed - as indicated by the awful THUD and the sudden death. 

I guess we were very lucky.

 

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