All language subtitles for Natural World The Super Squirrels

Squirrels, one of our most familiar
wild residents...

..but is there more to these cheeky
characters than first meets the eye?

They've managed to become one of the
world's most widespread animals.

There are squirrels and that can
survive a deep freeze...

SQUEAKS

..communicate in complex
languages...

..and outwit their greatest enemies.

RATTLING

Now, they're catching the attention
of the world's top scientists.

This is a really special animal.

It's kind of a three-dimensional
spatial genius.

To uncover the squirrel's
incredible talents,

we are going to work
with the experts...

Squirrels are one of the most agile
animals on Earth.

..put them to the test on a
specially-designed assault course...

..and see the world through
the eyes of an orphan,

as he develops the skills he needs
to get back to the wild.

It's time to meet the high-flying,

nut-loving, clever creatures we
should never underestimate...

..the Super Squirrels.

The squirrel family
is surprisingly large.

There are almost 300 different
species.

They are found in a huge range
of habitats...

..from frozen Arctic tundra...

..to baking deserts.

Some live underground...

..others high in the treetops...

..and a few can even
take to the air.

This adaptability has seen them
conquer the globe...

..and colonise almost every
continent on Earth.

Possibly the most loved of all is
the iconic Eurasian red squirrel.

This tree squirrel was once
widespread across Europe,

northern Asia and Siberia,

especially in ancient
conifer forests.

But in several countries,
their numbers have plummeted,

and they are under threat.

In the UK, 75% of the remaining

red squirrels are found here,
in Scotland.

With the species in decline,

every single red squirrel
is precious...

..and one has just been rushed in.

Look at you!

So small.

This is a baby red squirrel.

It's the smallest red squirrel
I've ever seen.

It looks to be maybe
about five days old.

He has no hair, eyes closed,
pretty much pinkie form.

SHE LAUGHS

The tree holding his nest
was cut down.

He will now be totally dependent
on his new surrogate mum,

Sheila McAllister.

Sheila's worked at the
National Wildlife Rescue Centre

for five years.

She and the team look after
nearly 10,000 animals every year,

from foxes to otters.

All right...

Sheila is a specialist in caring
for red squirrels and releasing

them into the wild...

..but this one is the youngest yet,
and very vulnerable.

So, the next 48 hours for this wee
guy is going to be quite extreme.

He's going to need a lot of care
to get him through.

Definitely, out in the cold, he
wouldn't have survived by himself.

In the wild, he'd be tucked up
inside a nest.

Tree squirrels build nests from
twigs, moss, bark and leaves.

The nest is known as a drey.

It keeps the young warm and safe
from predators for the first three

months of their lives.

At this age, they are totally
dependent on their mother's care.

This little orphan will rely on
Sheila instead.

She will feed him milk every hour
for the next couple of days,

even through the night.

It's a critical time, but they're
already beginning to bond.

So, we've decided to name him Billy,
after Billy Connolly,

and my job over the next few days
will be to keep him nice and warm,

regular feeds,

and just overnight care to make sure
he is getting all the food

and comfort that he needs.

There you go. Nice and snug.

This is a rare chance to follow
a red squirrel as he grows up.

If it all goes well,

we'll see Billy reach key milestones
in his development,

and go back to the wild.

The decline of the Eurasian red
squirrel has several causes,

including loss of habitat...

..and the arrival of a competitor...

..the eastern grey squirrel.

It's native to the east coast
of the United States,

but was introduced to the UK
in the 1800s.

Since then, it's thrived,

and outcompeted the smaller red
for habitat and food.

Thanks to its adaptability,

the great squirrel has become
one of the most prolific on Earth.

DOGS BARK

Their agility is impressive
to watch,

but some of their most remarkable
moves go unseen, up in the trees.

Wildlife film-maker and squirrel
fanatic Douglas Parker is obsessed

with finding out more about
their aerial acrobatics.

He wants to bring grey squirrels
down to our level and put them

to the test.

I want to build the ultimate
obstacle course to highlight all of

these incredible superpowers
that they have.

I want to test their physical
progress, and to do that,

I'm going to get obstacles
which highlight their grip,

highlight their balance,
highlight their leaping ability,

and just to show that it's not
just climbing around on branches.

You know, it's really, really,
really impressive.

So, Doug set to work,

with a bit of expert help...

..designing and building the
ultimate squirrel assault course

to show what they can do
up in the trees.

Eight obstacles...

..each designed to test a different
treetop skill...

..with the prize of hazelnuts
as a reward.

To get onto the course,

the squirrels need to complete
the first obstacle...

..Overhang.

The squirrels must leap up and
navigate the overhanging wood

to reach the nuts on the platform.

At the centre of it all,
Doug settles into a hide.

So, what I have done to get the
squirrels to go around the course

obstacle by obstacle is put food

stashes at the end
of every single one.

So, once the food is eaten
at the first obstacle,

it will then have to get to the
second obstacle to get the food.

And it's not long before the first
contender arrives.

Early signs looking good.

It's safe to say we've got some
hungry squirrels.

Within hours,

several squirrels have worked out
the overhang to get the nuts.

It's quite clear that once these
squirrels have figured out how to

tackle an obstacle, they
just perfect that movement.

And before Doug even expected it,

they are straight on
to the next obstacle...

..Pendulum.

They're over to the other side
in no time.

I cannot believe how easily it
just got round that.

They're using just one
central pendulum

and blinding speed to get across.

Doug's course is already showing how
quickly squirrels learn.

Working out how to solve a problem
is a key squirrel skill...

..wherever they live.

The grasslands of western America...

..home to a very different
sort of squirrel...

..the California ground squirrel.

They live in burrows, where they can
have their pups in safety.

But burrows are no barrier to their
greatest enemy...

..the Pacific rattlesnake.

The snakes use infrared sensors to
detect the heat of

warm-blooded prey,
so there's nowhere to hide.

With pups to defend, a female
squirrel must face the snake.

She flicks stones.

It doesn't look like
the smartest move,

but it's a deliberate
and cunning ploy.

By provoking it, a squirrel can
listen to the frequency and speed

of the rattle...

RATTLING

..and this reveals how big,
how warm,

and how aggressive the snake is.

After listening, the squirrel
can work out what to do.

She pumps extra blood into her tail,
and waves it repeatedly.

The blood flow in her tail

is normally used to help
regulate temperature...

..but here she knows that the
extra heat will be sensed by

the rattlesnake, and it makes her
seem bigger.

It works.

Solving problems like this

can increase a squirrel's chances
of survival.

It is something the pups will need
to learn, too.

Squirrel babies have
to grow up fast.

In Scotland, just three weeks
have gone by,

but the change in Billy the orphan
squirrel is clear.

Hey, little guy.

Hello.

When she's not at work,

Sheila brings him home to give him
the 24 hour care he needs.

Billy's doing really well.

He's feeding really good,
gaining weight daily.

Billy's just opened his eyes
just last night,

so he's still not quite sure
of the light,

and he still squints his wee eyes.

So, he's just adjusting, and
everything is still developing.

He's starting to really look like
a proper little red squirrel now.

He's clearly thriving,
and he's already developing one

of his most vital life skills -
his grip.

The grip that Billy has is really
important because it's going to

keep him in those trees.

You can see that, even so small,

he's got a good bit
of strength in him.

He kind of hooks these
nice wee claws into you...

..which have grown superfast,
as well.

At this stage, they would still
be in the nest,

and they would be pretty inactive,
so they would just be, like,

really kind of exercising
amongst themselves.

Without his mother or siblings
to interact with,

Sheila will have to help
Billy practise his grip.

Oh, are you going up here?

Good lad.

In the wild, having strong claws
and a firm grip is a matter of

life and death up in the canopy.

It's a difficult place to manoeuvre.

No two branches are ever the same,

and conditions constantly change
with the weather and the seasons.

Their aerial abilities
are so impressive,

they've even got the attention
of the world's leading scientists.

Professor Robert Full is an expert
in robotics.

Here at the University of
California, at Berkeley,

he's already taken ideas
from cockroaches...

..and bush babies...

..and now he can see the potential
for squirrel-inspired robots.

Part of our motivation is to
understand the most agile animals,

and squirrels are certainly
among the most agile.

Imagine if we could understand the
fundamental principles of how the

squirrels move through these
complex, unstructured environments,

and then translate them to robots -

robots that, in a disaster area,

would be able to read
and jump through gaps,

and climb on wires to quickly enter

an area in order
to find individuals.

To study the squirrels in detail,

the team use a portable wall out
in the woods.

They stick perches to it, which
represent branches of the tree.

A steady supply of nuts attract
the wild squirrels in to play.

Bob is discovering that
their aerial acrobatics

depend on their decision-making.

For example, one of the tasks we had
is, how could they determine where

to jump on branches or rods that
are of difference stiffnesses?

Some are really springy,
and some are very stiff.

What would they do in order to make

the best choice of jumping
to the perch?

When it's very stiff, they run out
very far and only jump a little bit.

That's the sort of best decision.

But when a branch is very bendy,
they make a different choice.

They decide to only go a little way
and then take a longer jump.

So, they make a very good decision,

in terms of their jumping
capability.

All these choices are made
in a split second.

Bob is hoping to understand these
decisions for the breakthrough

he wants in designing robots.

But his experiments have shown
something else too.

If they do get it slightly wrong,

it's their grip that
can save the day.

Even if they don't land perfectly
on the perch,

they have the ability to manoeuvre
their body such that they're able to

grip and grab on with their claws,

so that they don't fall,

and then they can swing back up on
the perch to get their peanut.

It's a brilliant demonstration
of their grip in action...

..and something Bob hopes

to replicate with his robots
in the future.

One squirrel needs a good grip
more than most.

The jungles of southern India are
home to the Malabar giant squirrel.

This remarkable-looking squirrel

is one of the most colourful members
of the squirrel family.

It's also one of the largest.

At a metre long,

it's almost as big as
this lion-tailed macaque.

The two compete for food,
so meetings aren't always friendly.

Luckily, there are more of these
huge jackfruit around,

so they don't need to share.

Being such a heavyweight

makes the Malabar giant squirrel's
grip particularly impressive.

It means they can hang upside down
while they feed.

They also use their grip to run down
trees headfirst.

To help them do this,
they have a special adaptation -

an unusually flexible ankle joint

allows the foot to rotate
almost 180 degrees.

It's the equivalent of standing with
both feet pointing backwards,

and means that,
whether they are going down or up,

their claws are always able
to grip on.

This treetop technique is
used by all tree squirrels...

..whether large...

..or small,

and Billy's grip and strength
has come on leaps and bounds.

He is just over seven weeks now,

so we can see he has changed
quite a lot.

He has got this great bushy tail,

and his agility's really coming on.

He's getting very active,
and quite a handful.

To make sure Billy can go back
to the wild,

he needs to meet some
of his own kind.

Here, sweet pea.

And Sheila is now caring for
another youngster of similar age.

Are you hungry? Yeah.

This is Annie.

She's from Inverness.

She was caught by a dog

and the owner handed her in
to the vets.

So, luckily, she doesn't have
any injuries,

and for the size of her,
she is doing pretty well.

It's an important moment for Billy.

Who's this?

He's scared.

At this age, in the wild,
the squirrels would have siblings,

and they would also have their
mother, so it's just that contact,

and being able to express natural
behaviours, and just have playtime.

So, it really going to
benefit Billy,

as he has never had any contact
with another squirrel.

They already seem to be pushing
each other to new heights.

He's off. It's a good sign.

Come on, Annie. Woohoo!

Annie...

Where are you going, Billy?

What's your next move?

Hey!

Young red squirrels learn a lot from
interacting with their families...

..but other species have taken
living together to the extreme.

These are prairie dogs,
a type of ground squirrel.

They live in a large colonies,
called towns...

..on the open plains
of North America.

The advantage of living in numbers

is there are more eyes
to keep a lookout.

When a coyote is spotted...

SQUEAKS LOUDLY

..they use a complex language to
warn the others.

SQUEAKS

Their call communicates
more than just a warning.

It identifies the type
of predator, too,

so they can take the
right evasive action.

So, this coyote might be better
off trying its luck elsewhere.

These prairie dogs, it seems,
like to do things differently.

They eat mostly plants -

not the diet you'd expect
from a squirrel -

and that's down to their size.

Big animals don't lose
as much body heat

to the environment as smaller ones,

so, as one of the larger squirrels,

prairie dogs don't have to use
as much energy to keep warm...

..and can survive on a less
nutritious diet.

It's a lifestyle that suits them
down to the ground.

What's in here?

Smaller squirrel species like Billy
need a lot more calories.

Do you need some?

That's why they depend much
more on nuts, which are high in fat.

Are you going to take it? Good boy.

These almonds are 49% fat,
ideal for a growing squirrel.

So, Billy has just started
to eat nuts.

He's like a wee secret eater,
though.

He just hides out in his bed,
and he'll eat underneath the covers.

Last night was the first night
I've seen him actually sit upright

and eat a nut, which is quite
a good stage for him.

For now, he can only eat soft nuts
without the shells.

Although all his teeth are through,
they are still developing.

A squirrel's front teeth
never stop growing.

That's to counteract the wear from
a lifetime of relentless chomping.

Red squirrel teeth grow
around 20cm a year,

so in Billy's lifespan,

his teeth may grow as much
as two metres.

Next, his tooth enamel will harden.

It's a critical moment,

because then he will be able to cope
with the hardest nuts in nature.

Once he starts eating the nuts in
the shell and being able to break

through this,
then we're quite happy for him

to be going to the wild, then.

Nuts are also the favourite food
of the grey squirrel...

..and at the assault course,
Doug is relying on this to entice

the squirrels on to
the next obstacle...

..Lily Pads.

The squirrels must leap between
the coloured discs.

The blue discs are solid.

The red discs are wobbly.

The idea is that they'll learn

the difference and just use

the stable blues to get across.

But this obstacle is much harder
than the ones before.

The squirrels will
get to the start of the Lily Pads,

quite literally just
have a look at it,

and think, no, not a chance,

and just completely give up
before they even give it a go.

Others have given it a go

but fallen off halfway,
which is what I was expecting.

It's a very tough obstacle.

Part of the learning process

is testing things out
and making mistakes.

But with winter approaching, the
squirrels are hungry and motivated.

So quick.

So quick. Oh, my gosh!

And finally, they find their
own way of getting across.

The squirrels have figured out
an incredible solution.

They take one step on the reds

and two steps to steady
themselves on the blue.

So they go one, one-two,
one, one-two, one, one-two,

using speed and agility to
overcome the cognitive problem.

Driven by their desire to
fatten up for winter,

they've combined their grip,
agility and persistence...

..and earnt their prize of
a nice, big hazelnut.

All around the world,

the coming of winter poses
a real challenge to squirrels.

There's little food around, and the
cold temperatures mean using more

energy than ever to keep warm.

But the super squirrels have come up
with some ingenious ways of

surviving the toughest time of year.

Here in Alaska...

..deep underground...

..the arctic ground squirrel has
a particularly radical solution.

It's hibernating.

It drops its heart rate,

breathing and body temperature
and survives on stored fat alone...

..but that's not the
really clever bit.

This little squirrel can handle the
coldest temperatures of any mammal.

Even underground,
it reaches -26 Celsius.

The squirrel's body temperature
drops below freezing,

yet it doesn't freeze.

We still don't know exactly how.

What scientists have discovered is,
every two to three weeks,

the squirrels shiver
to warm themselves

to a more typical 36 degrees.

This temporary warmth
is just about enough

to keep it going through winter.

Spring arrives...

..and the ground squirrel
finally ventures out.

It's eaten nothing for
a full eight months.

Thanks to this remarkable strategy,

it's avoided the lean months
of winter altogether.

Other ground squirrels have come up
with a different strategy.

In North America,

chipmunks will sleep for days
at a time through winter.

But when they wake,
they need food to stay alive.

Luckily, thanks to that hard shell,
nuts store pretty well.

So they gather nuts
throughout autumn...

..and stockpile them.

Chipmunks make hundreds of trips

backwards and forwards
to their larder.

It takes a lot of time and energy.

Flexible cheek pouches make the task
slightly easier...

..fitting in up to seven nuts
at the time.

But there's a problem -

other chipmunks that want to steal
your stash.

Any hoard must be defended,
even if it means fighting for it.

With the thief seen off, the
precious stockpile is safeguarded.

It's everything a chipmunk needs
to get through the winter.

Nuts are such a valuable resource
that theft is rife.

So, to avoid pilfering,

the tree squirrels have come up
with a different tactic.

They don't risk putting all
their nuts in one basket -

they bury each one separately.

It's a strategy known
as scatter hoarding.

But when hunger strikes,

how on earth do the squirrels
manage to find them again?

It's a question that
intrigues Dr Mikel Delgado

at the University of California,
at Berkeley.

Her university campus is home

to a thriving population
of fox squirrels,

a species native to the eastern side
of North America.

They provide the ideal opportunity
for Mikel to discover what happens

to each nut once it's buried.

We really don't know how long it
stays where it was buried.

We don't know who retrieves it

and whether it gets reburied
or eaten, or stolen.

I think a lot of people do think
that they're just

burying a nut wherever
and they might find it later,

but this is really a question
of survival for them.

To find answers, Mikel needs to
make each nut trackable.

So she drills a minute hole...

..and inserts a tiny microchip.

To make them easier for her to spot,

she paints the nuts with
bright yellow, nontoxic paint...

..and puts them out
for the squirrels.

Squirrels are nut connoisseurs,

so Mikel watches carefully to see if
her modified nuts pass inspection.

The initial moment that
a squirrel receives a nut and starts

assessing it, they're making
a lot of decisions.

Should I eat it now?
Should I save it for later?

Is this a nut that might go bad
if I bury it?

In which case, it's much better
to eat it now.

They typically do two assessment
behaviours,

so you'll see paw manipulation where
they rotate the nuts in their mouth

and paws,

and that allows them to see
if it's been infested

by a weevil or other insect,

and they're probably also assessing
the weight,

and then shortly after that,
they usually do a head flick.

That allows the squirrel to again
determine, is this a good nut?

Is it old? Is it fresh?
Does it have a lot of food inside?

And so those are the behaviours that
they use to make their decisions

about where to bury a nut.

Her nuts pass the test.

Mikel scans the site where the nut

is buried to record
the precise spot.

We saw a squirrel here earlier and
now we're just checking to get the

exact location with the scanner.

And now we will triangulate this
location using different landmarks

and a compass, so we can find it
tomorrow or a week from now.

Using her notes, Mikel can rescan

every single nut
throughout the winter.

The ones that are moved are assumed
to have been remembered and eaten

or possibly stolen.

The nuts that are never retrieved
are assumed to be forgotten.

The results are remarkable.

A year and a half later, we can see
how many nuts had been forgotten.

In my study, the squirrels
buried around 300 nuts.

Of those nuts, about 10% of them
were forgotten.

So the flip of that is that
squirrels are probably remembering

and locating about 90% of the nuts

they buried,
which is actually quite good.

Mikel only supplied 300
micro-chipped nuts...

..but fox squirrels bury many more,

up to 10,000 a year each.

So, scaling Mikel's work up suggests
they can remember the exact location

of up to 9,000 nuts.

Impressive stuff.

So is there something special about
the fox squirrel's brain that allows

them to do this?

Dr Lucia Jacobs thinks there is.

Also at Berkeley,
Lucia leads research on

the evolution of brains
and cognition.

This is the Berkeley fox squirrel,

and this species is
a scatter hoarder.

And this species is a California
ground squirrel.

You can see they're pretty much
the same size,

and these are both species
that are actually found in Berkeley,

and what's interesting about pairing

the ground squirrel
and the fox squirrel,

you can actually see,
even from their skulls,

how the brain size is larger
in the fox squirrel.

That's a general pattern that's
been shown, that the tree squirrels

have larger brains.

Remembering where they've left their
nuts requires a bigger brain.

There's also another reason why
tree squirrels are so blessed

in the brain department.

Arboreal animals have larger brains

than animals that live
on the ground,

and it's just because living in
trees is a much more complicated

environment, and so you see that
across all kinds of different

mammals, the more they're living

in a complex, three-dimensional
environment,

the larger the brain.

And that's not all.

Tree squirrel brains are able to
do something truly astonishing.

So, what you may not know about
squirrels is that

in the fall,
their brains get bigger.

So that squirrel in your backyard,

in the fall has a bigger brain
than the same squirrel did earlier

in the year.

This is because they have to make
a huge mental map of where all their

nuts are hidden,

and that takes brain power.

By springtime,
when food is plentiful again,

the brain goes back down
to its smaller size.

Overall, Lucia thinks the squirrel
brain is pretty impressive.

Squirrels are very smart animals,
they are very long-lived,

even under natural conditions,
of five years,

but in captivity, 15 to 20 years,

and usually animals, the longer
they live, the larger their brains.

After all these years with
squirrels, they really are special.

In fact, they are just...

The more I study them,
the more special they become.

Alongside fox squirrels,

grey squirrels are one
of the smartest of all.

Recent research even suggests that
this brainpower is what allows them

to outcompete the red squirrel.

So at the assault course,

Doug has decided to put their memory
and cognitive abilities to the test.

The Maze.

There's only one way through,

so the squirrels will have to
ignore the dead ends

and learn the right route.

WHISPERING:
What are you going to do?

Sniffing around.

No nuts up there.

Step one is finding the route
through.

Step two is remembering it.

Oh, my word!

Wow!

In just 15 minutes,

a squirrel has figured it out
and begins to perfect its route.

It's clear that once the squirrel
has completed an obstacle,

it remembers how it
did that obstacle,

so, when it comes to doing
it next time round,

it doesn't waste any time
figuring out its route.

It's a brilliant demonstration
of intelligence and memory...

..and the squirrels have definitely
earned their reward.

In the space of just eight weeks,

Billy has developed many of
these squirrel skills,

and it's now time to
put them all together.

To stand a chance of living back
in the wild,

he must leave the security
of Sheila's bedroom.

There's an enclosure back
at the rescue centre,

which has been modified to house
Billy and fellow squirrel, Annie.

It's really good because we can
set it up with loads of different

branches, hanging branches,
and branches just going across,

and it also gets them used
to the elements,

as well as having a sheltered area.

It's been set up with everything
a squirrel could want,

but this is still
a huge moment for Billy,

and Sheila doesn't know
how he'll react.

Hi, guys. You're OK.

Hi, Billy. Do you want to come out?

Where are we? Come on.

So, Billy has never encountered
anything outdoors.

He came into us
with his eyes closed.

There we go.

Billy and his companion Annie
don't seem too nervous.

Billy's over there.
He's on his first branch.

He's venturing out into the light.

And before long,
he's taking it all in his stride.

I can see Billy's quite happy -

he's going round
and exploring everything.

At times, he'll just kind of stop
and he's quite quiet,

and that's when he's a bit unsure,

but he's doing really well,
he's jumping around

and he's gripping onto
everything really well.

He's doing good.

The network of branches inside the
enclosure is higher up and further

apart than Billy has ever
experienced before.

It's to help him master
his next challenge,

the most difficult
and dangerous thing

that all tree squirrels have to do -

large leaps.

Jumping between branches avoids a
trip all the way down to the ground

to get to another tree.

It saves a great deal of energy,

and, despite the risk involved,
these incredible feats of acrobatics

are an everyday part
of treetop life.

Their leaping is so impressive that
Dr Greg Burns has spent the last

four years trying to understand
how they can physically do it.

If you imagine that this animal
is jumping 8-10 feet,

that's 8-10 body lengths,
that's a huge, huge jump.

Here at his lab in Siena College,
New York,

Greg's enlisted an assistant
to find out more.

OK, so this is Cedar. This was an
orphaned squirrel that we raised.

It was found on campus
maybe two months ago,

and so he's a juvenile grey
squirrel.

He is about three months old, maybe.

We've hand-raised it from a baby and
got it to train to jump a little bit

in the lab here and we're going
to learn some things about the

biomechanics of jumping.

As soon as he's big enough,

Cedar will gradually be released
back into the wild.

For now, he's honing his skills
by jumping between two platforms

in return for his favourite nuts.

There we go. Whoa! Too far!

Here's a big nut.

And Greg is analysing the mechanics
of his leap,

with interesting results.

When it jumps,
it jumps with a maximum force

of about ten body weights.

Compared to you or I,
I did a standing jump

of about six or seven feet and
I can produce about one and a half,

two body weights, maybe, tops.

So they're much, much more
powerful jumpers.

Greater power equals a longer jump.

To produce more power, they have

especially large leg muscles.

The muscles act like

an elastic band.

So, squirrels crouch
to pre-stretch them

for an extra little snap of force.

The next stage is flight.

It will then very quickly extend
its hindlimbs.

Its forelimbs will reach out

and basically start reaching towards
the target.

The target is the landing platform,
which Greg has modified.

It measures the pressure Cedar puts
down through his paws on impact...

..and reveals the force would easily
be enough for Cedar to hurt himself.

And when they land, they can land
with a force of about

15 body weights, and so they need to
find ways to basically reduce that

landing force and one of the things
they do is they make sure they get

all four limbs on the
ground at the same time.

This spreads the landing force
between all four feet.

Bending their legs also helps
absorb more of the impact.

Greg has discovered that combining
these adaptations allows

grey squirrels like Cedar
to complete huge leaps.

It's the equivalent of a human
jumping two bus lengths

from a standing start.

But there's another squirrel
who beats that record.

In the far north of America,
this nocturnal member of the

squirrel family searches for fungi,
its favourite food.

But fungi is spread in random
patches through the forest and the

squirrel has to cover large
distances to find it.

So, this squirrel has evolved
a special talent.

The northern flying squirrel
is just 16cm long

and weighs less than
a typical smartphone.

Yet, it can leap up to 45m
between trees.

Its wings allow it to glide
through the canopy.

They are an incredible piece
of aeronautical engineering.

The main membrane stretches between

their wrists and ankles,

and another smaller membrane

between the ankles and tail.

Combined, they form a parachute.

Flying squirrels have the longest
limbs of all the squirrels,

to make their parachute
as large as possible.

A piece of cartilage on the end of
the wing gives them an upturned tip.

This reduces drag and
increases stability.

It's the reason many aeroplanes have

upturned tips on their wings, too.

The result is these incredibly long
leaps at speeds of up to 20mph...

..allowing the squirrels to travel
widely through the forest.

In the UK, at the assault course,
the squirrels need to make their own

leap of faith,
as their very last test.

As well as the obstacles
they've done before,

the squirrels are facing
the Tightrope...

..Rolling Branch...

..and Windmill,

before their final 3m Mega Leap

to the giant stash of nuts
at the end.

These wily grey squirrels have
had plenty of practice now,

and are becoming experts at
some of the obstacles,

but will one be able to
string it all together

and complete the course in full?

WHISPERING: There's definitely one
individual standing out

from the rest,
and he's just shown up.

OK.

Come on.

OK.

Across the Lily Pads...

Into the Maze...

He's got the first half
of the obstacle course down.

Tightrope...

OK, this individual looks
like he's going to do it.

Rolling Branch...

Windmill...

Come on, come on! You can do it.

Oh, he made it look so easy!

OK, this squirrel's made it all
the way around. It's the final bit.

It's the final jump.

He's done it. You absolute star!

We've found our super squirrel.

One individual has completed
this entire course.

It's had to use every
squirrel super skill -

intelligence, memory,

determination, problem-solving,

and mind-blowing physical agility.

It's easy to see just why these
animals are totally unmatched

in their treetop homes.

As the grey squirrels finally
piece everything together

at the assault course,

in Scotland, Billy is about to
take his final step too.

At 15 weeks old, Sheila thinks
he's ready to go back into the wild.

So, Billy and Annie are about
to be given their freedom.

So, we are en route
with Billy and co.

So this is release day,
so a big day for the guys.

So we've got a great location
for releasing them.

There's 50 acres of woodland,
which will provide plenty of food

and space for the squirrels.

At this age in the wild, he would be
fully independent from his mother,

but Sheila won't be
cutting all ties just yet.

I've got a little parting gift
for Billy.

This is some whole hazelnuts.
They don't want to eat them now.

It just means they
can store them away

and keep them for the wintertime.

She'll put out nuts daily
through his first winter...

..so he can retrieve and store them.

Now it's time for the biggest step
of his life.

The transport box allows Billy to
get used to his new surroundings,

while feeling safe
and hidden inside.

With the door open,
he can leave when he's ready.

So, he's just coming to the front,
and having a wee peek,

just trying to suss everything out,
and then going back in again!

He's coming out. He's got his nose.

Bye, Billy.

Now, it's up to him.

He's going so high!

It looks like Billy has the speed
a wild squirrel needs,

and his instinct to head high
into the trees is a good one.

It was good. That was nice.

He went off quite calm,
and had a good look around.

He manoeuvred really well
in the tree.

I was quite happy with that.

He jumped out of the box quite
relaxed,

and just that grip on the tree,

he manoeuvred round the tree
and up to the top in no time at all.

And Billy won't be alone.

I would say it's a job well done.

Billy's really came along.

He's had quite a journey and, yeah,

he's just kind of proved
he's a wee champion.

Back in the wild, Billy will draw
on all the skills he developed

during his time with Sheila...

..the same survival skills that
make all squirrels so special.

Their perseverance
in pursuit of food...

..their extraordinary
aerial agility...

..phenomenal problem-solving...

..and the cunning required
to outsmart predators.

It's these amazing abilities

that have allowed
the super squirrels to thrive

and become one of the most
successful animal families

on the planet.