What is the Squirrel Han-Off the Ice Age?
You’ve heard the story of Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel in the Ice Age franchise, but what exactly is his background? The famous character has been subject to many adventures, including being attacked by angry animals, being buried under an avalanche, and even running from lava from an erupting volcano. Through it all, Scrat has remained faithful to his task of making the audience laugh.
Table of Contents
Scrat
If you have seen the movies Ice Age and Finding Nemo, you probably recognize the saber-toothed squirrel as Scrat. In the series, he endured a series of hardships, from being beaten by other animals to being buried under an avalanche and running away from lava from an erupting volcano. Even after all his trials, Scrat never wavered in his mission to make the audience laugh.
A farewell video was posted on YouTube by an account named “Finale” in honor of Scrat, which fans can watch here. Scrat’s adventures are legendary for causing fans to laugh throughout the series. The farewell video begins with Scrat spotting an acorn in an open area and hopping towards it. Scrat is careful of anything that might separate him from the acorn.
Condor
What is the squirrel’s relationship with his acorn? In this Ice Age film, Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel, finally fulfills his dream of collecting an acorn. While the Herd is preoccupied with protecting their young, Scrat’s pursuit of the acorn is his obsession. The two have several storylines which intersect and are separate from each other.
In this animated feature, Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel, makes his big screen debut in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. He battles with another squirrel for an acorn, and the two end up chasing each other down the gorge. The audience cheers and laughs when Scrat reveals his love for Scrat and the acorn.
Shira
Despite her small appearance in the first two Ice Age films, Shira is a charming and affectionate character. She escaped her pack and joined Gutt’s crew, where she is embraced as First Mate. This film introduces a new type of squirrel, Shira, and is the first to not contain flashbacks, so her backstory remains a mystery. The movie also features a pregnant Shira, who may have between one and six cubs. The fur color of Shira is a mix of Snow leopard and White tiger.
The movie also features a love interest for Shira, Diego. He has a charming yet sarcastic personality. He was sent by the pack to rescue human baby Roshan, but he accidentally lets Manny and Sid go too far when he tries to lead them back to the humans. In order to protect himself from the attack, Diego disguises himself as a human and leads Manny and Sid to safety. Diego’s plans to kill Shira end up backfireing, but fortunately, he was saved by Manny and Sid.
Manfred Manny
“Manfred Manny is the squirrel han-off the ice age” is a funny, family-friendly comedy about a mammoth named Ellie. Ellie is part opossum and part mammoth, and hangs upside down from its tail. Ellie is an attractive young girl who helps Manny save the mammoth species by mating with him. However, Ellie is wary of the suggestion, and she doesn’t believe the hunch.
In the story, animals are migrating in order to escape the ice age, but one sloth is left behind by his family. Manfred saves the sloth, Sid, and calls him “Manny” to save him. The sloth and rhinos also bond. Sid becomes a friend of Manfred, and they form a bond. Manfred, however, finds love with Ellie and becomes proud father of Peaches.
Peaches
The answer is in the film’s title. Peaches, a young squirrel, has a brown coat and light auburn pelt. Her tusks are shorter than her parents’. She has green eyes, a broader face and a pronounced hump. In the movie, Peaches’s hair resembles that of Ellie from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
After the movie, the Peaches’ namesake is a prehistoric rabbit named Teddy. When Brooke carries the herd to the Shangri Llama, Peaches goes into labor. Julian comforts her by saying that her life would “flash before his eyes.” In the following scene, Sid breaks a geotopian wall to steal a crystal for Brooke, so Peaches and the other Geotopians agree to give their crystals to the volcano. The volcano spewed the crystals off, changing the direction of the asteroid.
Jessica Watson is a PHD holder from the University of Washington. She studied behavior and interaction between squirrels and has presented her research in several wildlife conferences including TWS Annual Conference in Winnipeg.
