Former NASA Engineer Builds a Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course to Stop Nut-Stealing Backyard Squirrels - Gizmodo

If you’ve ever installed a backyard bird feeder in hopes of peacefully observing your fine feathered friends, you’re probably aware that it quickly becomes a target for your local squirrel population.

Now, if anyone can stop a squirrel from breaching a bird feeder you’d assume a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer could, but as Mark Rober discovered, squirrels are the unstoppable ninjas of the animal kingdom.

His latest experiment was inspired by an attempt to take up bird watching as a way to help pass the time during the lockdown, which was thwarted by a group of local squirrels that were easily “dominating all the off the shelf ‘squirrel proof’ bird feeders” he found on Amazon.

Instead of just engineering a bird feeder that could effectively stop squirrels, Rober built an entire American Ninja Warrior-inspired obstacle course in his backyard for them, including everything from trap doors and mazes to even a catapult—and starting with the impossible ladder bridge challenge featured in his expose of carnival games.