Viral video: Watch as squirrels master an amazing Ninja Warrior obstacle course with style - USA TODAY

Bryan Alexander USA TODAY

Published 11:42 PM EDT May 27, 2020

YouTuber and budding quarantine bird enthusiast Mark Rober failed in his quest to find a bird feeder capable of stopping squirrels from breaking into the bird seed.

So he created an ingenious eight-part "American Ninja Warrior"-style obstacle course for squirrels to protect his bird feeder instead. And filmed his efforts in a now-viral video.

The squirrel aerobatic proficiency on display proved to Rober, a former NASA and Apple engineer, that these common tree-scaling rodents can fly in uncommon ways.

"This course was extremely challenging," Rober says in the video posted Sunday which now has more than 13 million views. "But I will admit, in hindsight, that I completely underestimated my adversary."

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Rober started the project eight weeks ago when, "completely bored," he took to birdwatching in his suburban yard. When the squirrels brilliantly and acrobatically broke into even the most anti-squirrel feeding device, he let the Squirrel Games begin.

After constructing the challenges in his backyard with a friend, Rober woke up at 6 a.m. each morning (prime squirrel time) to photograph the proceedings with his long lens camera, while also capturing moments with 24/7 streaming cameras set around the yard.

Four local squirrels learned to master each challenge – including a "squirrel friendly" Bridge of Instability tightrope, a maze, "Wipeout"-style pitchfork tumblers, a Slinky bridge, a tourist trap photo opportunity for the squirrels and "Ninja Warrior" quad steps.

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After Hollywood-style jumps, displays of squirrel cunning and dramatic falls ("they are amazing like cats and always land on their feet"), the four squirrels mastered the course. Each could nail it in less than 40 seconds and enjoy the walnuts (and the bird feeder).

Rober says he took the course down after a month, replacing it with a special squirrel picnic table, which releases walnuts to his regular contestants "to remind them of our good times together."

But he's learned serious squirrel respect. 

"When I started this two-month adventure trying to birdwatch, I had no idea I'd enjoy squirrel-watching so much more," Rober says in the video. "Of all the animals, I can definitively say that now squirrels are my absolute favorite."

"They are kind of adorable, incredibly crafty, curious by nature, athletic and persistent," he says.

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Viral video: Watch as squirrels master an amazing Ninja Warrior obstacle course with style - USA TODAY
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