--- title: Abandoned Squirrel Nests in Girl's Ponytail description: Hammy, an abandoned squirrel in a Zimbabwe animal refuge, has made his home in the ponytail of the refuge owners' daughter. canonical: https://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/ author: Kyle Chayka article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-18T17:05:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:54.979Z og:title: An Orphaned Squirrel Now Lives in This Girl’s Ponytail og:description: Have you check your hair for critters lately? og:url: https://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: An Orphaned Squirrel Now Lives in This Girl’s Ponytail twitter:description: Have you check your hair for critters lately? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Orphaned Squirrel Now Lives in This Girl’s Ponytail by [Kyle Chayka](https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Mar 18, 2014 5:05 PM UTC by [Kyle Chayka](https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Mar 18, 2014 5:05 PM UTC Ponytails aren’t just for… horses anymore. An abandoned, two-month-old squirrel is now [living in the hair](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2014/03/abandoned-squirrel-lives-in-girls-ponytail/) of Abby Putterill, the daughter of the owners of a wildlife sanctuary in Zimbabwe. The squirrel, named Hammy, “was playing with Abby and he managed to crawl into her hair. He seemed to make himself at home and still does it now,” Abby’s mother Debbie says. Given that squirrels usually [curl up in nests](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/urban-jungle/images/squirreldrey.jpg), the choice of dwelling isn’t exactly surprising. It is extremely cute, though. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/"},"headline":"Orphaned Squirrel Now Lives in This Girl’s Ponytail","datePublished":"2014-03-18T17:05:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:54.979Z","description":"Have you check your hair for critters lately?","url":"https://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","cute"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kyle Chayka","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/","name":"Orphaned Squirrel Now Lives in This Girl’s Ponytail"}}]}] ```