Furry
Tales
The word “bonding” took on a completely new
dimension for me today. Up until this morning I had known bonding to mean
‘unifying, connecting, being close’ etc. However, the amazing experience that I
had this morning made me think that this word has many and deeper layers to it. And I will forever be reminded of my chipmunk family when I come across that
word again!
To give you a little background…We have
a family of chipmunks (squirrels) living on the roof of our penthouse. Though
technically not pets, since we did not adopt them, this family of delightful
little creatures have adopted us instead. My husband and I take turns to lay
out a handful of nuts for them every morning on the balcony and we spend hours
watching them joyfully munch on the nuts. These noisy, cute little creatures
are totally fearless and remain undaunted in our presence! In fact, the tiniest one, not more than a
couple of inches from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail, dares our
cat, Mischief, to come and get it…knowing full well that the cat is behind
French windows and will never be able to reach him! It is pure delight to
watch the whole family come and grab the nuts and nibble at them- their tiny
mouths champing away like well-oiled machines.
This morning for some reason the nuts
lay untouched and the family of happy nut hunters were nowhere to be seen.
Their quietness was quite eerie. I remember mentioning this to my husband
who agreed that he hadn’t seen any of the squirrels all morning. Thinking that perhaps they weren’t very hungry, I went upstairs to clean the penthouse. To my
utter amazement I found a tiny chipmunk hiding in a two-inch by two-inch gap
behind some pieces of furniture. It was dazed with fright and I realized with a
pang that our dogs must have scared the tiny mite and forced him to take refuge
in that spot where they could not reach him. Making sure that the little one
was unhurt, I set him free and within minutes his parents came and took him
back into their fold.
Lo and behold! Soon after the whole
family was back at the balcony merrily gnawing away at the nuts! And then
realization dawned on me…the whole family of chipmunks were so distracted at
having lost their young one that they had not shown up all
morning. I learnt a remarkable lesson from these beautiful creatures this morning. We humans consider ourselves superior to all other creatures, but the
unity, discipline, bonding and caring that the chipmunks demonstrated today
elevates their position and puts them on a pedestal in my eyes. The sophistication
of the social structure and familial attachment amongst these cute little
animals has humbled me and taught me a lesson I’m not likely to forget in a
hurry.
Wow, this is unbelievable, amazing! I would never have known this to be possible had you not written about it. The squirrels are very cute but who would have thought they had such loyal, family feelings. :P I'm awestruck, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThis is too good for words!I like it more so because I was a spectator to the entire episode, do continue
ReplyDelete