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A squirrel was recently spotted attempting to move another squirrel, which was lying motionless on a road in Singapore.
Did not leave dead squirrel's side
The scene was captured in a 31 seconds long video uploaded by one SB Lim on the Nature Society (Singapore) Facebook group.
Throughout the video, the squirrel nudged its lifeless buddy with its snout several times and moved the carcass by a short distance, seemingly at a loss as to what happened to its fellow compatriot.
Despite leaving the corpse for a brief moment, the squirrel did not stray too far, and soon returned to its dead companion.
In one instance, the squirrel can be seen attempting to move the dead squirrel by biting onto its rear limb.
However, it was spooked and quickly ran away as an onlooker approached the scene.
Dead squirrel was likely roadkill
Lim also shared with Mothership another video clip of the incident:
Speaking to Mothership, Lim said that the incident took place at Carpark D of East Coast Park on the morning of Sep. 13.
While Lim did not see an accident occur, he said that the dead squirrel was likely to be roadkill, and that it was spotted with "quite a fair bit" of bleeding.
A lady subsequently moved the dead squirrel and laid its body to rest under a nearby Banyan tree.
According to Lim, there were at least half a dozen squirrels on the surrounding trees, leading him to believe that this area was their "hangout" spot.
The squirrel left the scene and climbed up the tree only after the carcass was moved off the road.
What to do when you encounter roadkill
Be sure to slow down when driving near nature parks and reserves to potentially minimise the risk of roadkills.
Should the animal cause a road obstruction, the animal, or its carcass, should be moved to the side of the road as per the Road Traffic Act. The Act was updated in 2019 to cover all animals involved in traffic accidents.
If you come across the carcass of a pangolin, or any other uncommon wildlife like civet cats, raffles banded langurs, or sambar deer, you can file an online report with the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM).
These carcasses are vital to LHCNHM's research and education efforts, where researchers can glean information about the animal's habitat and diet, and offer suggestions on conservation and roadkill prevention efforts.
You can watch Lim's video below.
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Top image courtesy of SB Lim