SQUIRRELS
October is Squirrel Awareness Month. How much do you know about this family of rodents? Follow along and see! • Scuiridae is a family of small or medium-size rodents that includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, woodchucks, gophers, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are the largest group of living mammals, with over 360 species making up 40% of all mammal species. • The word “squirrel” has its origins in the ancient Greek language from the word Skiouros, which translates “shadow-tailed.” • The smallest squirrel is the African pygmy squirrel with a length of just 2.8 to 3.9 inches and a weight of 0.35 oz. The largest, the Alpine marmot, living high in the Alps and Pyrenees, grows up to 29 inches long, and can weigh 18 lbs.
• You've surely heard of the long-distance buses known as Greyhounds, but you might not be aware of the company's humble origins. In 1914, a car dealer named Carl Eric Wickman ran a car dealership in Minnesota. When business was slow, he used one of the unsold cars to offer rides between the towns of Alice and Hibbing to miners going to
• In 1955, just a few weeks before he was killed in a car crash, actor James Dean made a commercial aimed at teenagers. The subject? Auto safety. In the ad he says, "Drive safely. The life you save may be mine." • If you're like the average American, you drink only one-sixth as much wine as the average French citizen. *
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Thought for the Day: "I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart." -- E.E. Cummings © 2014 King Features Synd., Inc.
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• Those who study such things say that when bears, squirrels and other mammals hibernate, the flow of oxygen to their brains can drop by as much as 98 percent.
• The body of a squirrel has many unique characteristics. Its very large eyes give it an excellent sense of vision. Because the eyes are high and on the side of the head, the animal has a wide field of vision without having to turn its head. A squirrel can also rotate its hind feet 180 degrees at the ankle, which enables it to easily descend a tree head first. It also has special whiskers known as vibrissae on its head and limbs, which gives the squirrel an exceptional sense of touch.
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• Play-Doh was originally marketed as a wallpaper cleaner. It wasn't until kids started using it as modeling material that the company saw its potential in the toy market.
work. The idea was so profitable that Wickman opened long-distance routes within two years. He painted the vehicles gray in order to hide the road dust, prompting a hotel owner along one route to comment that the cars looked like greyhound dogs. Wickman liked the idea so much he started using the slogan "Ride the Greyhounds," and the rest is business history.
King CROSSWORD
• It was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who made the following sage observation: "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."
• In order to remain healthy, an adult squirrel must eat about a pound of food every week. The average squirrel enjoys a diet of nuts, seeds, and fruit, but will consume bird eggs, bugs, and even the dead body of another animal in a pinch. The brain of most squirrels is about the size of a walnut.
Weekly SUDOKU
by Samantha Weaver