Squirrel skins were widely utilized as an official form of currency in medieval Russia and Finland, with the highly prized winter pelts serving as a reliable medium of exchange for everyday goods and services.

A closer look

Squirrel skins were widely utilized as an official form of currency in medieval Russia and Finland, with the highly prized winter pelts serving as a reliable medium of exchange for everyday goods and services. The system was remarkably well-regulated, featuring specific denominations including the snouts and claws of the animals to represent smaller fractional values like coins. This bizarre biological monetary system eventually helped shield these populations from the devastating economic impact of the bubonic plague, simply because they had already hunted their local flea-carrying rodent populations to near extinction for money. It is arguably the only time in recorded human history where aggressively hoarding the dismembered body parts of small woodland creatures turned out to be a brilliant macroeconomic health strategy instead of just serial killer behavior