We went out to a local park on the Hillsborough River Monday, and I got this picture of a fat squirrel directly overhead with his belly hanging through the branches - it was a funny angle.
I shot photos of maybe 3 squirrels while at the park. When I got the photos on my computer, I could see that ALL of them had some kind of growth/tumor.
I didn't know where to post this, since we don't really have a "behaviour" forum for wildlife....
Note the several growths on the neck and shoulders..... :(
It was quite disturbing, and left me just feeling terrible. What's happening to one of my favorite rivers???
Incredible capture Amy. It is a first for me as I have never seen this type of exterior growths or tumors before. How sad and what is disturbing to me is why ??? Thanks for sharing this with us Amy and I can certainly sympathize with your feelings and hope you do not encounter anymore.
Amy, these are Bot Fly (Cuterebra emasculator ) larvae. The bumps are called "warbles". The tree squirrel bot fly is pretty common in the Eastern US this time of year.
Thank you so much for explaining what this is! I guess that's a little bit of a relief. It probably isn't much comfort to the squirrel(s), though! It looks painful, though the squirrels were running around like... well... squirrels. :)