How Do Squirrels Remember Where They Buried Their Nuts?

[Judi Lynn]

By Emma Bryce, Live Science Contributor | November 17, 2018 08:18am ET

Few things symbolize the onset of fall quite so well as the sight of a squirrel scampering around a park, industriously burying nuts. As the weather cools and the leaves turn, squirrels engage in this frantic behavior to prepare for the upcoming shortages of wintertime.

But have you ever wondered how effective the squirrel's outdoor pantry project could really be? After going to all that effort to conceal its winter stash, how does the squirrel actually find the buried treasure again, when it's needed most?

First, let's backtrack slightly, because the way that squirrels bury their food yields some interesting clues. Animals that store food to survive the winter don't just do so randomly: They typically use one of two strategies. Either they larder-hoard — meaning they store all their food in one place — or they scatter-hoard — meaning they split up their bounty and stash it in many different locations. [The 12 Biggest 'Little' Mysteries of Fall — Solved!]

Most squirrel species are scatter-hoarders — hence the characteristic dashing they do between different piles of buried food. "This style of food storing probably evolved because it reduces the risk of suffering a major loss," said Mikel Maria Delgado, a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, who has studied squirrel behavior for severalyears. In other words, the more widely dispersed the food, the lower the risk that a hungry competitor will discover the squirrel's entire supply and destroy it in one go.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/64104-how-do-squirrels-find-buried-nuts.html

Hooray for squirrels!

[shenmue]

1. Spoiler alert

They live in the woods.

[irisblue]

8. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Wounded Bear]

12. Maybe we could hire the squirrels to clean up the dead leaves...

[KT2000]

2. A squirrel in my sister's yard

took a bunch of crackers off their picnic table. He/she took each one up a tree and stashed each one on a branch. Hooray for squirrels is right!
I have only seen a chipmunk once and never a squirrel in my neighborhood but I find many buried hazelnuts in my yard. ??

[safeinOhio]

3. You may think this is nuts, but

scatter-hoarding may be the best way to squirrel aways your investments.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. As long as you remember where they are.

Now, where did I bury that stack of Krugerrands?

[Doreen]

4. I find it funny when I watch one squirrel bury their nut(s) and then when they run

off to find more another squirrel comes right behind and digs it up and takes it away.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Thanks for posting - I always wondered!

[padah513]

6. The beauty of it is that they don't remember where they buried them all.

Best little tree planters on the planet.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. I wish they would remember to get their black walnuts out of my flower beds.

[DownriverDem]

9. Holes

Squirrels did holes all over our garden looking for where they buried their stash..

[jberryhill]

10. They figured this out a long time ago...

[Nitram]

13. Actually, oak trees depend on squirrels forgeting where they've buried acorns.