Squirrels that run across roads can often become roadkill, so why do they do this? Why do squirrels run across the road?

Squirrels run across the road to cover more ground when they’re looking for food, water, a possible shelter or a mate. They are foraging animals and will look far and wide to find sustenance. They will also run across the road as you’re driving to try to avoid your car, which they see as a predator.

Animals cross the road pretty often. It is said that “Animals aren’t crossing the road, the road is crossing the forest” They need to cross human-made roads to find food, mates and water on the other side. Unfortunately, they don’t always cross roads at a good time. Many animals cross the road when roads are being used by cars and this results in car-animal accidents. The question that many of us ask ourselves is ‘why do squirrels run across the road’ this article looks into it 

Why do squirrels run across the road?

Squirrels in the wild are free, they do not interact with cars and humans and are generally free to move through the forest as they please (as long as they do not run into any predators). Cars exist in urban areas, but squirrels don’t recognise a car as being a car, they see it as a predator. 

When a squirrel encounters a predator it’s natural instinct is to run in the direction perpendicular to the direction that the predator is going. So if the squirrel is on the side of the road and your car is going straight on the road the squirrel’s natural instincts will be to run across the road.

Squirrels have evolved to do this as a survival technique. Predators cannot change direction as quickly as squirrels can so running perpendicularly to the predator is how squirrels escape. Unfortunately, your car is not a predator and may catch up to the squirrel before the small animal can cross the road, this results in an accident.

Other reasons why squirrels cross the road is to complete everyday tasks, these animals look for food and water during the day. They scour the woods looking for sustenance, they eventually cross the road to cover more ground.

Also, during the courting stage, a squirrel male will be on the lookout for females. He’ll need to cover more ground to find her and thus some times need to cross the road. 

To counter squirrels crossing busy roads, concerned squirrel lovers sometimes install squirrel crossing bridges over busy roads in an effort to curb squirrel fatalities on roads. These bridges are meant to encourage squirrels to use them instead of roads meant for cars, unfortunately, there is no data that shows that squirrels actually use these bridges 

In some urban environments, it seems that squirrels have adapted and learnt not to cross roads when the roads are busy. This change in squirrel thinking may be the result of exploratory behaviours or natural selection. This may even be a behavioural shift in the minds of squirrels 

Why do squirrels lick the road 

Squirrels licking roads definitely isn’t good for their health, when they lick roads they become exposed to toxic tar. They lick roads because they sense that they need the minerals that are present on the road. The main mineral that squirrels lick roads for is salt, this is especially true for pregnant squirrels which need more salt than squirrels that are not pregnant.

Summary 

In summary, squirrels run across the road to cover more ground when they’re looking for food, water, a possible shelter or a mate. They are foraging animals and will look far and wide to find sustenance.

They will also cross the road as you’re driving to try to avoid your car which they see as a predator. Other bizarre squirrel habits include licking roads, they do this because they are trying to lick the minerals from the road, pregnant squirrels do this more than non-pregnent squirrels.

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other squirrel related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: why do squirrels run in front of cars, how do squirrels drink, how do squirrels show affection, why do squirrels tease dogs,  how do squirrels move so fast,