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   Per Axbom (axbom@axbom.me)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Oct-2023 20:07:37 JST Per Axbom
   The "science of cute”. 🐿️
   
   I tend to question most things I see online. Today was no exception. I was sent images of squirrels supposedly landing on the ground like superheroes after jumping from trees (one fist in the ground and the other arm stretched out behind them).
   
   I really, really wanted to believe this. It’s too cool! But my mind immediately went… are these AI-generated?
   
   As it turns out, this claim has been doing the rounds for years. The pictures are real. The context is not. That’s not a squirrel landing. It’s what a squirrel looks like during the activity of scratching their armpit with their hind leg.
   
   And how do they in fact land? "When in a controlled fall, squirrels will spread their limbs out wide to increase air resistance and hit the ground like a bushy-tailed pancake. This helps spread the force of the impact over a greater area to prevent injury."
   
   https://guloinnature.com/do-squirrels-land-like-superheroes/
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     HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴 (histopol@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 11-Oct-2023 20:08:29 JST HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

     in reply to

     • MAJ

     Here's one for you, @MAJ my Super-Squirrel! 🤩