Tiger Heron

Elegy for the Northern Flying Squirrel

16 Elegy for the Northern Flying Squirrel 1 Not exactly a flier but a glider between trees, the squirrel soars by shifting her cape, tightening and loosening the parachute that stretches from ankle to small cartilaginous wrist bones. From Canada to the Appalachians, she seeds, through her scat, the conifer forest with spores of truffle-like fungi the trees require. Will anyone notice the dwindling of unbroken stands of spruce and hemlock that cool off mountain streams? 17 2 We have words for this: fragmentation, disappearance of ecosystems. Once the cambered airfoil of furry tail stuck an Olympic landing on a trunk. We did not witness or admire the aerobatic, nocturnal feats, visible only to other canopy dwellers and the field biologist. But have you seen the small, wingless insects infesting the hemlocks by your house? The cottony tufts? The dying trees? 18 3 The fast decline of the Northern Flying Squirrel: symptom of larger malaise and contributor to it. Today you can purchase one as an exotic pet at six weeks old and keep it warm in a pouch you wear under your shirt between hand feedings, so that it bonds to you and learns to come to the human for comfort and safety. ...