system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do squirrels stop seconds after running and continue running and repeat that same process over and over again?
gpt
It's a behavioral thing that allows them to evade one of the senses available to predators. They move in quick bursts and stop so that they can observe the world around them. In nature this means they are looking for all forms of threats as well as possible food sources. The reason for the quick bursts and stopping is because if they move quickly, they get a certain distance that would juuuuust trigger a predator's "is there something" visual response and then bam stop so that the predator's eyes and brain can't get past that to the "what is it" identification path. This is a purely visual evasion, but it can also sort of evade auditory detection in being that their movements can be considered arrhythmic. Things like owls aren't really confused by that stuff as they are also keenly adapted to spot even that change. 

It not only serves as a visual evasion technique, but it also allows them to travel distances pretty efficiently while being on the lookout for both food and predators.