You Paid For It: Squirrel Sex Study

W A S H I N G T O N, April 3 -- Deep in the bowels of the federal government's budget is an allocation that would take most Americans by surprise: $600,000 in tax money is being spent on researching the sex lives of South African ground squirrels.

Last year, American taxpayers funneled nearly a trillion dollars into the U.S. treasury. Hundreds of millions of those dollars funded scientific research aimed at finding a cure for cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. But millions of American tax dollars have also been spent on studies that critics say have little benefit for taxpayers.

The study about the evolution of squirrel breeding is a prime example. Government waste groups contend that studying the sex habits of African squirrels is exactly the kind of research taxpayers shouldn't be paying for.

"Squirrel mating seems to be on the low end of the priority scale ... with all the other priorities in this country," said Tom Schatz, president of the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest taxpayer advocacy group. "People are dying of heart disease, cancer, Parkinson's and AIDS and we're looking at how squirrels mate."

In the first of a three-part Good Morning America series, called "You Paid for It," ABCNEWS' Bob Woodruff took a look at some of the things your tax dollars are paying for.

Studying Sex and Squirrels

Jane Waterman is the researcher studying squirrels, through a National Science Foundation grant.The University of Central Florida biologist travels to Africa as part of a five-year project to observe ground squirrels.

"What I study is sex and squirrels," Waterman said.

She says the furry animals are fascinating because male African squirrels are so friendly to each other. They only time they spend with females is for sex and they don't fight over females as American squirrels do.

"They hang out in large male bands and they like each other," she said. That is a remarkable thing to see in a ground squirrel and a mammal. Waterman believes that studying the evolution of squirrel breeding gives us a better understanding of our environment, and ourselves.