Come here! Squirrel gives hungry pine marten the slip as they chase around tree trunk in a deadly game of tag
- A squirrel was in a chase for its life after being targeted by a larger pine marten
- The pine marten ran around behind the squirrel which nimbly dodged its claws
- A hunter filmed several minutes of footage in Yellowstone National Park
It might look like a game of tag as this pine marten chases a squirrel around a tree trunk but it’s deadly serious.
A hunter in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, managed to film the squirrel nimbly dodging the cat-sized predator’s claws as they spun round the pine tree.
The encounter, in the Madison River area of the park, went on for almost half an hour before the squirrel escaped and left the hungry pine marten sitting in the snow.
The pine marten chased the squirrel around in circles on the tree in Yellowstone National Park
Several times the pine marten, in an effort to bamboozle the squirrel, doubles back in the hope of having its prey run straight into its grasp.
The unidentified hunter shared the footage online, explaining: ‘This pine marten, a brown weasel native to Yellowstone, appeared to be hunting the squirrel as the squirrel was simply playing with the marten.
‘The chase went on for nearly 30 minutes but the squirrel eventually escaped.’
Pine martens are effective predators who are normally between 18 and 26 inches long and weigh between one and three pounds.
They have long, dark, chestnut-brown fur and a bushy tail with a distinctive creamy-yellow throat.
They normally eat small mammals, including squirrels, but will also hunt voles, mice, shrews and even hares.
Pine martens have also been known to target birds, eggs, amphibians, reptiles and insects.
Eventually, the pine martin gave up the chase and left the tree after the squirrel escaped