That sound tells Concordia College biology professor Joseph Whittaker and his team of student researchers that a squirrel is nearby.

They’re using an antenna and a receiver to track some of the furry critters across campus to learn more about their behavior.

“I wanted to get students some experience using radio telemetry … and the squirrels are nice and conspicuous, so we thought they’d be good to look at,” Whittaker said.

Before the squirrels can be tracked, they have to be captured. The researchers placed radio collars that emit specific radio frequencies on nearly two-dozen squirrels on campus.

The team uses an antenna hooked up to a receiver that beeps louder when squirrels are nearby. Finding the squirrels is like playing a game of “hot or cold.”

When the group went out Friday looking for squirrels, the rodents were more active because of milder temperatures.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

They found one.

It was nesting in a tree, though, and it didn’t greet the researchers. Whittaker said it’s probably because she was about to give birth.

Concordia has an abundance of two types of squirrels, red and gray. There’s more to squirrels than meets the eye. For one, they are smart.

“It seems like the gray squirrels are social and will group up at night and will chew the collars off of one another at night, or at least the antennae,” Whittaker said.

The red squirrels are territorial. Whittaker said they will often chase away the gray squirrels and only allow the gray squirrels to graze in their territory after they’ve established dominance.

Whittaker said his team also studies a variety of other squirrel behaviors.

The project gets a lot of attention from the campus.

“I just think it’s really interesting that the squirrels and the students here on campus have an intricate relationship with each other,” squirrel researcher and Concordia senior Brian Bickel said. “Squirrels are here for protection, for food – they get a lot of food from the garbage here.

“Students, they kind of invest in the squirrels a little bit,” Bickel said. “There’s a squirrels of Concordia page [on Facebook] and there’s a very interesting relationship between them and us.”

Squirrel research team members also get funny reactions when they are out tracking squirrels.

“I just enjoy people pointing and laughing at the squirrels’ behaviors and especially when we do squirrel telemetry,” said sophomore researcher Jessica Watson. “I’ve had several people come up to me and are like, ‘Are you tracking aliens or trying to talk to outer space?’ So it’s been really fun.”

Concordia students Elizabeth Robinson and Peter Bergquist spent two months mapping the Concordia campus, down to the last tree, before the squirrel tracking got underway.

The map provides the team a way to plot where they find the squirrels. The team, which has plotted more than 400 squirrel locations, documents the weather, time of day and behavioral observations.

Funding for the research comes from grants Whittaker’s students applied for, with additional funding from the biology department at Concordia.

The team will present its research findings at a conference in Pikeville, Ky., at the end of the month.

“I kind of feel like I used to take them for granted,” Whittaker said. “Now it’s like I’m appreciating them a lot more as I’m walking across campus and stopping and watching them and at other places, too.”

Readers can reach Forum reporter Josh Francis at (701) 451-5715

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