Hello, neighbor
Alumna's passion for nature becomes a career
By Natalia Lavric
Those cute brunettes may be Athens regulars, but you won't find them in the new Baker Center or on Court Street. Instead, you're more likely to spot them running across College Green with friends and snacking on acorns.
They're squirrels, and for Katie Ferrell, BSJ '96 and MS '00, they're much more than a furry friend.
A graduate of the environmental studies program, Ferrell spent two years working on a book about squirrels with Richard Thorington Jr., curator of mammals at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History.
"Squirrels are an excellent research subject," Ferrell says, "because they are so ubiquitous. Almost every person you talk to knows what a squirrel is and usually has some anecdote to tell you about them."
Now that the book, "Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide," has been published, Ferrell is working as a project manager for the Consortium for the Barcode of Life, a group that works with researchers to assign "barcodes" to unique species, much like unique products at the grocery store.
Ferrell is happy that her childhood passion for nature and wildlife has become a career.
"I would spend hours in the backyard watching the birds and squirrels and other creatures going about their business," she says. Her enthusiasm continued throughout college, when she'd watch squirrels on College Green and explore other forms of wildlife on the Athens campus, visiting nearby reserves and parks.
As a master's student, Ferrell wrote her thesis on funding for national parks after finding inspiration in a newspaper article about a corporation's multi-million dollar donation to the National Park Service.
"My journalism background has kept me interested in some of the more public issues surrounding conservation," she says.
 Working with Thorington, Ferrells says she learned more about sciuridae, or squirrels, than she ever thought possible.
"Dr. Thorington's enthusiasm for what he does is infectious," Ferrell says of her mentor. "And it didn't take long before I was equally as enthusiastic about his research."
The two studied taxonomy and evolution of the 278 currently recognized species of squirrels spread across five continents.
"I cannot put a price on the opportunity to work in the premier natural history museum in the world," Ferrell says of her workplace, where she's gone from an assistant to a project manager in a few years.
"The researchers constantly challenge themselves with new questions about the world around us," she adds. "It is an inspiring place to work."
According to the Consortium's Web site, categorizing species with barcodes enables specimen identification, possible discovery of new species and more effective taxonomy for both science and society.
Ferrell's interest in science, while varied, is still greatly vested in the species that she and Thorington researched in 2003.
"They are fascinatingly diverse," Ferrell says of her beloved squirrels, "and this is just one small group of mammals.
When you take into account all the groups of mammals, the biodiversity in the world begins to take shape and you realize how amazing the natural world really is."
Fun facts
 Contrary to popular belief, squirrels are more than just "rats in better outfits." Evolutionarily, squirrels are more closely related to the beaver.
Out of the 278 species, squirrels range in weight from a few grams to the marmot, which weighs in at 18 pounds.
The Eastern gray squirrel is listed on the World Conservation Union's list of the 100 most invasive species, causing extinction of the native red squirrel.
"Celebrity" squirrels include Disney chipmunks Chip and Dale, Secret Squirrel of cartoon fame and Rocky, one half of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
In the original story of Cinderella, the title character wore squirrel slippers instead of ones made of glass! "The explanation ... lies in the similarity of two French words," Ferrell and Thorington's book explains. "'Verre' ... means glass and 'vair' means squirrel."
Baby squirrels can make squeaking noises as early as three days of age.
The typical squirrel's heartbeat is 280 beats per minute.
Flying squirrels do not actually fly; rather, they glide. Capable of gliding half the length of a football field from a 50-foot tall tree, flying squirrels convert energy into forward movement and can travel long distances in one leap.
Natalia Lavric, BA '07, is a student writer with Ohio Today.
Posted 05-09-07
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