Watch squirrels beat a ‘ninja warrior’ obstacle course designed to keep them away
The former NASA engineer behind the package-thief punishing glitter bomb has a new invention: a backyard obstacle course intended to stave off nut-stealing squirrels.
“This is a bird feeder, and everything to my left is my attempt” — emphasis on attempt — “at making it squirrel-proof,” says Mark Rober in a YouTube video walking viewers through his hilarious contraption.
“If they want the birdseed, they will first need to pass through what is basically an eight-part ninja warrior obstacle course for squirrels.”
The extremely involved feat of squirrel-tthwarting technology was inspired by a problem Rober had in his own backyard.
“Squirrels were stealing my birdseed, so I solved the problem with mechanical engineering,” he captions the 21-minute video tutorial of his creation, which has racked up over 10 million views since being uploaded on Sunday.
Squirrel-proof bird feeders he bought off Amazon had proved no match for his local hungry squirrels, so Rober made a comedically complex trap involving a “bridge of instability,” a “maze of a thousand corridors,” “pitchfork tumblers of treachery” and even a cowboy cutout photo-op — just for kicks.
After spending a month creating his rodent-stopping magnum opus, Rober installed a prize of walnuts at the final station, and squirrel contenders — which Rober weighed and named — soon began stepping up to face off against his handiwork. The clever but easily spooked Rick was up first, followed by Rick’s best friend Marty, who is “basically indistinguishable from Rick.” The gutsy but dumb Frank also tried his luck, as did the charming and slovenly Phat Gus.
Despite Rober’s engineering marvel — after some practice — the squirrels still bested the course and stole the walnuts.
“As far as I was concerned, they had earned it,” he says.
After about a week, he took down his handiwork — and installed a squirrel-sized picnic table equipped with a walnut dispenser to release a few delectable treats every morning.
But wouldn’t you know: On day one, Frank took the top off the dispenser.
