Squirrel Saga in my yard, is this normal behavior?
Context: Eastern Grays in Midwest USA
My husband goes “oh god…come look at this” and I thought the dog did something gross on the rug but no, it was a baby squirrel getting its face eaten off by an adult (with another baby nearby, pictured). We knew we had a mama in our tree but weren’t sure if that was mama. Then he went to the other baby (pictured) and rolled him on his back and the baby started screaming, so I knew that wasn’t his mom and I went out and shooed him away.
Suddenly, we see mama coming back across the street and goes up in her nest and realizes something’s amiss. She comes back down and (unfortunately) finds the dead one first. Then while trying to carry that one she hears the living one call for her and goes and finds him and carries him back up. Then with great effort, she carries the dead one up too.
Is it common for squirrels to raid other nests and eat babies? Is it like bears where the male eats the young so he can father his own? We’ve never observed this behavior before. I’m glad the one baby survived but I was sad she lost one, and brought it back to the nest anyway, faceless. 😔