The world’s unluckiest squirrel accidentally impales itself on a branch

Nature is a cruel, cruel animal.

Between predators, scarcity of food, harsh climates, hunters, disease, traffic and/or farming equipment… it’s almost a miracle they survived this long.

And we’ve seen some survive some of the most BRUTAL conditions.

But sometimes being a wild animal is just unlucky. Whether it’s a freak accident, a birth defect that never gave you a chance, or just plain bad luck… it’s tough out here in the wilderness.

The good folks at Nature Is Metal, a great Instagram account if you want to see some of the wildest, gnarliest things the animal kingdom has to offer, shared this one recently, and man… I don’t know if I did ever seen something like that.

This poor squirrel was seen completely impaled on a branch… as if disobeying the king in an episode of game of Thrones and displayed for the rest of the forest to see.

There are a number of theories as to how this could have happened, whether it was just a bad jump, a slip and fall, dropped by a bird of prey,

“Unfortunate squirrel impaled on a branch. We’ve all seen these little acrobats defy gravity high in their tree hollows, successfully leaping from tree to tree with reckless abandon.

So what went wrong here?

Could have been a badly timed jump and a gust of wind. Perhaps it was being chased by a large bird of prey and had to think quickly, miscalculated and fell from a great height. Or a combination of both.

Perhaps it was already dead and dropped mid-carry by an owl or some other species of raptor.

It’s not possible to pinpoint exactly how this happened, but seeing things like this is a constant reminder of how unpredictable the natural world can be.”

Nature is indeed metal.