Terps With Bushy Tails

If there’s anything more popular than a Dining Services chicken tendie, it must be a campus squirrel snacking on one.

The Instagram account @UMD_Squirrels_, founded five years ago by animal photography enthusiast Spencer Lin ’21 and passed down to younger students since then, now has over 4,500 followers. It celebrates the antics of the bushy-tailed critters: perching on an e-scooter, dumpster diving, chasing each other or simply trying to hide in plain sight.

Claire Nelson ’23, an early childhood special education major and friend of Lin’s, was the most recent administrator of the account, choosing from Terps’ photo submissions. She says she was always backlogged with requests from students who wanted their images featured on the page.

“There’s a sense of community over something that doesn’t seem like it has much meaning,” Nelson says.