Former NASA Engineer Created An Obstacle Course To Stop Squirrels From Reaching The Bird Feeder

Mark Rober is a former NASA engineer who got fed up with squirrels stealing the food from his bird feeders. So he did the only sensible thing – he designed a ninja warrior-style obstacle course to make sure they really have to put in effort to reach those sweet, sweet walnuts. He even documented the whole thing in a hilarious 22 minute video that got over 12 million views in just a few days. See the Mark’s obstacle course and the little rodents attempting to cross it in the gallery below!

Mark Rober designed an obstacle course for squirrels who were stealing the food from his bird feeders

Image credits: Mark Rober

The engineered explained how it all works

Before Mark became a YouTuber with nearly 12 M subscribers, he worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 9 years, seven of which he spent working on the Curiosity rover.

Here’s some of the squirrels attempts at crossing the obstacle course

As a side project, Mark also ran a company called Digital Dudz where he created and sold all sorts of creepy costumes. He later ended up selling it to the costume company Morphsuits.

Bored Panda contacted Amanda N. Robin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California and co-creator at the Squirrel Gazer to find out what an expert has to say on Mark Rober’s ninja squirrel obstacle course. “It’s an awesome demonstration of what amazing acrobats and persistent problem-solvers arboreal squirrels are,” said Amanda. “His obstacles only begin to touch the surface of just how agile and intelligent these iconic backyard visitors really are.” 

In the “About” section of his YouTube channel, the man explained that he was recently presented with an opportunity to return to his engineering roots some ideation type of work for a tech company located near San Francisco. The man constantly uploads all sorts of funny and creative videos to his YouTube channel and I’m pretty sure you’ll find them as fascinating as I did.

The man later built a custom feeder for the squirrels so they can feast in style