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Scientists Just Discovered Ancient Squirrels Were Way More Metal Than You Think

Using their poop, by the way.

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One of my favorite old-school ways to call someone crazy is saying they’re “nuttier than squirrel shit.” It’s crude, whimsical, and feels like it’s rooted in some kind of natural fact of life. Squirrel poop is likely filled with nuts. As The New York Times reported, however, their ancient ancestors were apparently gnawing on mammoths and saber-toothed cats, which really makes you wonder where things started going wrong on their evolutionary timeline.

The discovery comes from the Yukon, where Klondike gold rush miners first exposed massive Ice Age fossils of woolly mammoths, steppe bison, and saber-toothed cats, all of which were preserved in the permafrost. Tucked away in those frozen walls were prehistoric ground........

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