Splooting Season: Why Squirrels, Dogs and Other Splooters Lie Flat in Hot Weather
Saturday, 7 June 2025
Sploot? Splooting? Splooted? You may have come across the word in one or more of its forms while goggling at a picture of a very flat looking dog or squirrel. Although it’s quite probably self-explanatory, we thought a short diversionary interlude to look into the word, the action and its mammalian manifestation might allow for a little procrastinatory pleasure. So, put off the more important things you must do today and delve with us into this fascinating phenomenon. Perhaps you could even attempt a languid sploot yourself as you read on…
Or perhaps not (disclaimer #1). First, the action. Merriam-Webster added "sploot" to its dictionary in 2022, defining it as a slang term for the pose in which an animal lies flat on its belly with its hind legs stretched out behind it. That much is obvious, but why do animals sploot? The rather silly looking pose is in fact a very sensible solution to the issue of overheating.