Dude, Where's My Squirrel?

In this time of economic turmoil and uncertainty, some have called for a return to the gold standard. But what about, the squirrel standard?

As CNBC notes in this awesome slideshow:

“In medieval Russia, squirrel pelts were a common currency of exchange. So common, in fact, that snouts, claws and ears were also used, presumably as change.”

Turns out, a squirrel-based economy has some unintended benefits. When the Black Death hit, for example, Russia was largely spared the effects thanks to the fact that everyone had previously converted the country's tick-bearing squirrels into hard (or should we say soft and fluffy) currency.

Also , check out Mongolia's 500 Tugrik coin featuring a talking – yes talking – John F. Kennedy, and Hungary’s 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 Pengo note from 1946.

Eat your heart out Zimbabwe.