35161 A rather interesting film, seemingly aimed at either late elementary or middle school students, about animal learning. The film opens by introducing a ground squirrel given the cutsey name of Squeak as he runs around the forest. While not stated in the film, the outside shots appear to be done on the eastern rim of Crater Lake in southern Oregon. While a pleasent and jovial narrator describes the action-- much like you see in most nature films of the 1950s-- the first experiment is to show how Squeak would react to a mirror. Next, we have a young girl first feeding Squeak from her hand and then from a couple boxes (clearly violating the park rule not to feed the animals...). Afterward, we move to a labratory, where we see Squeak in his cage/nest. He runs through a increasingly complext series of tests that involve trying to get a peanut from a tube or a string. While the lab setting is a bit unsettling and would not be tolerated today, it is still fascinating to see how much problem solving capacity animals have. Despite the slightly condescending narrator, this film remains a good demonstration of animal intelligence. Bonus points for a really clean print quality and vibrant colors that add to the enjoyment of the film. Or, creative feeding of forest animals Wilford B. Wolf 2005-03-16 15:36:51 2005-03-16 15:36:51 4 Interesting, but the sound was jerky - on and off, half the time! Squeak the Squirrrel 3 MortyW 2005-08-01 18:43:06 2005-08-01 18:43:06 A rather nice little film which looks at the learning ability in squirrels. It's amusing and informative at the same time. Cute and interesting. 5 dog from Nightwatch 2005-09-20 10:22:48 2005-09-20 10:22:48 Interesting film that starts out as a nature film (and again, the nature film is something we see far too little of here on the archive) about a cute plucky squirrel named Squeek, who is out in the wild eating nuts and what not. Soon, we find out he’s adapted to humans so much that he will eat of your hand! So that’s a good opportunity to kidnap squeak and put him in a cage to do simplistic science experiments on him! These experiments don’t border beyond the ‘pull the string for the nut’, but it’s sure curious on how this film develops. Animal Psychology for kids! 4 Spuzz 2006-01-18 03:28:41 2006-01-18 03:28:41 In this delightful animal psychology film, viewers are introduced to the titular squirrel as he moves about in his native environment. Squeak briefly interacts with other squirrels, reacts to his reflection in a mirror, and consumes some peanuts from the hand of a patient young girl. Shortly afterwards, however, the energetic fellow is held captive by researchers and placed into a laboratory setting complete with long pieces of string, wire screens, a glass tube, and a white box. Through the careful placement of peanuts, Squeak is given the incentive that he needs to gradually solve various puzzles set forth by the hands of an unknown individual. The film provides a sterling example of how animals that find themselves outside of their habitat can learn new skills after observing their surroundings and the potential functions of the objects in their vicinity. It would be nice to see Squeak solve a Rubick's Cube with his resourceful little hands, but he's probably need a fair amount of time to make any considerable progress. A future MENSA member? 5 GE_Pretzel 2006-05-12 18:40:08 2006-05-12 18:40:08 I got a kiss AND a hug. My wife loved this! 5 tirpider 2006-09-02 16:10:42 2006-09-02 16:10:42 A squirrel is getting nuts. nuts nuts nuts 5 nolight 2006-09-03 21:56:55 2006-09-03 21:56:55 7 4.43