Squirrels are categorized by scientists in the Sciuridae family under the order of Rodentia.
That's right.
Squirrels are actually classified as a type of rodent.
More than 250 varieties of squirrels are considered part of the Sciuridae family,
including ground squirrels, tree squirrels, and flying squirrels.
Can flying squirrels really fly? No, not like birds and bats can.
Flying squirrels glide. Boy, do they glide.
They come with their own wing suits that they use to glide from limb to limb and tree to tree.
At times, they look like they're floating.
Flying squirrels have a soft fold of skin called patagium which connects and stretches
from their wrist to their ankles on both sides of their body.
This perfectly designed furry membrane allows flying squirrels--
like the red giant squirrel of Asia--
to glide up to 500 feet-- nearly two football fields.
Some say they've seen these wonders of God's creation glide even farther.
For thousands of years, people have wanted to fly.
We've looked to the natural world around-- us especially birds for inspiration--
and have built all sorts of flying machines, from airplanes to powered parachutes.
Some have become even more daring in recent years
and made expensive wing suits to glide hundreds or thousands of feet in the air.
And what was their inspiration for these well-designed gliding suits?
No doubt one of their favorite superbly designed creatures to imitate has been the flying squirrel.
Interestingly, and sadly, many human beings have made daring wing-suit flights
and have suffered major injuries and even death upon landing.
Yet, flying squirrels are so well-designed that they can make such flights
many thousands of times throughout their lives and land without ever suffering major injury.
How could anyone logically conclude that perfectly designed gliding squirrels
are the result of evolutionary time and chance,
while the man-made copies are the result of highly intelligent designers?
Such reasoning is quite illogical.
Just because most squirrels are not flying squirrels with a parachute-like patagium
doesn't mean that they're any less well-designed.
Ground and tree squirrels are quite amazing creatures in their own right.
You've heard the comparative phrase "as quick as a cat."
Perhaps a better phrase would be "as quick or swift as a squirrel."
Their quickness and reflexibilities are astonishing.
They seem to be able to turn on a dime as they are scampering full speed.
One split second they're running in one direction.
Then a nanosecond later, they have turned in the complete opposite direction.
Many times you will see squirrels zigzagging at superhero type speeds
in order to escape predators.
Imagine if you could have a squirrel on your football or basketball team.
In addition to their quickness, consider the acrobat balance
and nimbleness and coordination of these cute little creatures.
Human acrobats train thousands of hours for years to be able to walk a tightrope
or to swing confidently from a trapeze to a trapeze while 50 feet in the air.
Yet squirrels have these abilities-- and many more--
from the time they leave their mother's nest at about 10 to 12 weeks old.
With their perfectly designed feet and claws, tree squirrels can zoom up and down tree trunks
at a 90 degree angle without fear of falling.
They can go round and round the trunk at super speeds.
Imagine how dizzy that would make us.
Even non-flying squirrels can jump from branch to branch--even flimsy branches--
and from tree to tree with seemingly little concern for the 30 or 40 feet below them.
Tree squirrels' balance and agility are truly mesmerizing.
People have even set up obstacle courses for squirrels
just to witness how crafty and coordinated these creatures really are.
Last but not least, you've seen-- or at least heard of--
how squirrels gather nuts and store them to eat at a later time,
especially in the winter when food is scarcer.
Some of these nuts are carried back to the squirrel's nest or den.
However, many thousands of them are hidden in thousands of different places
in the ground over a few square acres.
A squirrel's survival is dependent upon being able to find literally thousands of hidden nuts.
Scientists have studied squirrels and concluded that they're able to uncover
several thousand nuts that they had previously hidden months earlier.
Some have estimated that a squirrel's recovery rate is as high as 80 percent.
And the other 20 percent is likely not because they simply forgot their whereabouts,
but due to other legitimate factors.
Perhaps it didn't need them or was waiting to retrieve them at a later date.
Or maybe other squirrels found them and ate them.
Imagine being able to hide 10,000 objects in the ground
and being able to uncover as many as 8,000 a few months later.
How many times have you purposefully hidden just one object,
and yet only a few days later, forgot where you hid it?
As someone who often wonders where his keys are--
even sometimes when I may be holding them in my hand--
I don't want my life dependent on being able to find thousands of hidden meals for my survival.
Squirrels may be common animals that we often overlook,
but they are amazing animals.
Still, as remarkable as these creatures are, let's be sure to remember that their Creator
is the real remarkable one.
He's the Grand Designer of squirrels which, like all complex functional living things,
testify to the greatness of their wonderful Creator and sustainer of life.