Fareham, UK: Coconut-Eating Squirrel Capital of the World

2010 Coconut Squirrels

A British squirrel watcher has discovered a way to get her backyard visitors to put coconuts on their heads like they are astronauts on an adventure. Jane Roberts in Fareham, Hampshire (near Portsmouth) first gave the gray squirrels coconuts to distract them from the bird seed. She hangs to coconuts from a closesline--much the way people in the midwest dangle ears of hard feed corn for squirrels (and their own entertainment).

The 2008 Coconut Squirrel

"I make a large hole in the coconut so that they can get into the flesh. The first time I saw them feeding I nearly died laughing, they looked just like a pair of spacemen," she told Sky News."Even now I can't stop chuckling every time I see them."

Apparently all the squirrels in this little town like their coconuts. A couple years ago the Daily Mail profiled a squirrel that would lift a coconut over his head to eat it in the yard of Vicky Walker, in Portchester, Fareham. I've never known a squirrel to eat coconut before. Then again, I hate coconut, so I've never tried to inflict it on them. Maybe I'll see if my current patient, Mickey, who loves avocado, would like some.

 We have plenty of white squirrel capitals of the world. I'm adding Fareham to my map of places to see interesting squirrels. Fareham is now the Coconut-Eating Squirrel Capital of the World.

Find More Places to See Unusual Squirrels
Where are the Best Places to See Wildlife in Europe?