Nantucket Squirrels

First settled in 1641, Nantucket is an island about 30 miles south of Cape Cod. Together with two other islands (Tuckernuck and Muskeget) is collectively called the town of Nantucket. It is a tourist destination during the summer months, with a population that grows 5 times during that time. The island itself is ripe with history since it's over 350 years old. It has the oldest operating windmill in the US (operation began in 1746). Nantucket's name came from Native American origins, however the exact origin is debated still. According to come accounts, the Algonquians used the terms natocke, nantaticut, nantican, and nautican which are thought to mean "in the midst of waters" or "far away island". The Wampanoags that lived on the island called it Canopache, which means "place of peace". The island is nicknamed "the gray lady" because of the fog.

However nice and possibly interesting as this all may be, what makes Nantucket interesting enough to make it as expendablenlightenment? Well, Nantucket has an interesting piece of trivia that most people don't know: Nantucket had no squirrels on the island until 1989.

You might be wondering why there is a date for this, and you might be wondering where they were before. The answer to the second is that squirrels weren't indiginous creatures on the island. And the answer to the second is that a truck carrying firewood in 1989 took the ferry to the island, and on the ferry were some squirrels. These squirrels populated the island that is filled with hearty beech tree nuts for them to feast on. It is usually very dangerous to introduce non-indiginous creatures into new areas: the most prominant example would be the carp in the Illinois River, but we'll save that for another day. In this case, the squirrels have flourished and the island seems to have adapted well.

Bet you didn't know that!