Many communities have mysterious heroes. Gotham City has Batman. New York City has Spiderman. Lafayette College has @laf_squirrels.

For eight years, the Instagram account has been anonymously capitalizing on the college community’s love of fluffy-tailed rodents. Now, the second-ever owner of the account is ready to reveal their identity and hand over the reins.

“I just want to keep the tradition alive,” said Areanna Pumayugra ‘25, who has run the account since 2022. “The squirrels are still such a prominent part of the school.”

Pumayugra is currently soliciting applications for a new account owner, with a decision expected to be made before they graduate. The criteria for the successor? A good sense of humor, consistency and the initiative to try new things.

“I hope that they do something with it, and do a lot more than I did,” Pumayugra said.

But competition for the position is expected to be stiff, with Pumayugra saying one applicant said they’d take the account “more seriously than a job.”

Though less active in recent years, Pumayugra resumed posting with full force in May, organizing a slew of giveaways and scavenger hunts for the account’s 1,500 followers in a week-long celebration before finals — one last hurrah before graduation.

“I just really like squirrels,” they said.

Pumayugra inherited the account as a freshman after a competitive application process held by its creator, Emma Krasinski ‘22.

“Their application was stellar, talking about how much they love squirrels,” Krasinski said of Pumayugra. “I was like, ‘This is the person that I need to give it to.’”

Pumayugra recalled being given the password and thinking, “Wow, this is mine until I graduate?”

But running an account as popular as @laf_squirrels is no easy feat, and as Pumayugra took on more commitments on campus, posts on the account dwindled.

“It’s kind of hard to do all of it and balance everything,” they said. “But at the same time, I’m really glad I had it.”

Running the account anonymously, Pumayugra said, prevents personal bias or drama from getting “in the way of the squirrels.”

“The whole point is the squirrels, not the owner,” they said.

Among the account’s followers are prospective students, alumni, faculty and other campus squirrel fan accounts.

“I love the account,” said Elizabeth Batchelar ‘25, who once submitted a bird’s-eye view photo of a squirrel in a trash can.

“It was something me and my friends would do,” she said. “We’d walk around on campus and if we ever spotted a squirrel, we’d be like, ‘Oh my god, split up! Get good angles!’”

Julia Altamore ‘26, who won a squirrel plush and a Wawa gift card in a giveaway run by the account as a freshman, said she has been a “squirrel girl” ever since.

“As a junior, when I see squirrels, I still get really excited,” she said.