[GovernmentShrinker]

I saw it with my own eyes. I don't know what the mechanism is, or how far up the tail it works, or whether it grows back. Perhaps there are even different subspecies of squirrels, with some having this feature and others not. But the gray-brown squirrel I saw crossing the road in White Plains, NY in 1994 definitely lost 2-3 inches off its tail, under the tire of a car, and kept on running without a hitch -- the lost bit of tail was clearly visible in the road after the car passed, and it wasn't just hair (I looked closely, as I'd never seen anything like this before). Since then I've noted a number of squirrels missing the ends of their tails, and figured they probably lost them to similar accidents.

[Terriergal]

but how often does one have the opportunity to fling a dead squirrel? Sometimes you just gotta carpe diem.

LOL!!!

Yeah I was gonna comment that it had nothign to do with decomposition. Doing that with a fresh squirrel would have likely had the same effects (trust me, done it before... even on something light as a chipmunk the tail will strip like a wire.).

I've seen lots of furry tailed rodents running around with parts of their tails missing likely from close run-ins with cats or dogs or cars or other hazards. Eventually the exposed bone falls off and they have a stubby brush the rest of their little lives.