--- title: Squirrel Juggling: Squirrels Hibernate So Heavily They Don't Wake Up description: Don't juggle squirrels canonical: https://time.com/45220/your-new-favorite-winter-activity-squirrel-juggling/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-01T15:36:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:23.690Z og:title: Your New Favorite Winter Activity: Squirrel Juggling og:description: For the record, don't juggle squirrels og:url: https://time.com/45220/your-new-favorite-winter-activity-squirrel-juggling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08151996ea4d7000/69868850cd804d221acca0d1/178331144.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2813 og:image:height: 1582 og:image:alt: 178331144 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your New Favorite Winter Activity: Squirrel Juggling twitter:description: For the record, don't juggle squirrels twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08151996ea4d7000/69868850cd804d221acca0d1/178331144.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Your New Favorite Winter Activity: Squirrel Juggling > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 1, 2014 3:36 PM UTC  Grey Squirrel Grey Squirrel Robert Trevis-Smith—Getty Images/Flickr RF by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 1, 2014 3:36 PM UTC Tired of this unending winter and ever-elusive spring? Well, here a new way to wile away those winter hours: Squirrel juggling. [A recent article in ](http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/03/squirrels-hibernate-so-hard-you-can-juggle-them/8715/)_The Atlantic Cities_ explained that certain squirrels hibernate so deeply that you could take a page out of _Alice in Wonderland_ and play croquet with the little knocked out fur balls. It’s a fact proven by _science_. Specifically, a scientist named [Hilary Srere](http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/10/3781.full.pdf). “I did juggle three of them for my niece and nephew when they were younger, because they are just little fluffy balls!” [Srere said](http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/03/squirrels-hibernate-so-hard-you-can-juggle-them/8715/). “They don’t wake up, they just don’t.” To be clear, we do not recommend, encourage or condone juggling hibernating squirrels, it’s just interesting to note, scientifically speaking, that one could (if one was a budding squirrel-hating sociopath). If one was going to juggle a squirrel (again: don’t), there are a few things to note: First, the grey squirrels that you see digging up nuts in winter do not hibernate. So if you see one that is unconscious, it’s either been KO’d by a mini Manny Pacquiao or it’s just asleep. Sleeping squirrels wake up and will bite. Hibernating squirrels are ground squirrels that live in the Central and Western United States who can go into a coma-like state for up to six months. Second, if you’re considering taking up squirrel juggling as a party trick, be aware that a surprising number of squirrels [have the bubonic plague](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/a-us-squirrel-has-the-plague-are-we-all-going-to-die/278154/). Not much of a party trick now is it? \[Via [Atlantic Cities](http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/03/squirrels-hibernate-so-hard-you-can-juggle-them/8715/)\] **MORE**: [College Students Go Nuts over Squirrels](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/13/college-students-go-nuts-over-squirrels/) **MORE**: [Orphaned Squirrel Now Lives in This Girl’s Ponytail](http://time.com/28953/orphaned-squirrel-now-lives-in-this-girls-ponytail/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/45220/your-new-favorite-winter-activity-squirrel-juggling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/45220/your-new-favorite-winter-activity-squirrel-juggling/"},"headline":"Your New Favorite Winter Activity: Squirrel Juggling","datePublished":"2014-04-01T15:36:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:23.690Z","description":"For the record, don't juggle squirrels","url":"https://time.com/45220/your-new-favorite-winter-activity-squirrel-juggling/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Science topic","Biology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08151996ea4d7000/69868850cd804d221acca0d1/178331144.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08151996ea4d7000/69868850cd804d221acca0d1/178331144.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"178331144","caption":"178331144","creditText":"Robert Trevis-Smith—Getty Images/Flickr RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/45220/your-new-favorite-winter-activity-squirrel-juggling/","name":"Your New Favorite Winter Activity: Squirrel Juggling"}}]}] ```