Squirrels are some of the most common rodents found in the United States, though the species exists on almost every continent. Chances are, you’ve seen them climbing trees, jumping into garbage cans, and rolling around in your birdbath. Squirrels are quick and crafty, with big tails and bigger reputations. These creative rodents have some unqiue skills that keep them fed throughout the harsh winters.
Squirrels are known for burying nuts in the summer and autumn. But why do they go through all that trouble? They also have a reputation for being able to find all their nuts. Is that really true? And who is doing all the burying? Discover the answers to your most pressing squirrel questions below.
Why Do Squirrels Bury Nuts?
Squirrels collect nuts from a variety of resources. Including, of course, stealing from birdfeeders! Many squirrels have a preference for acorns, though the species eats a wide variety of different nuts, including pecans and walnuts.
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Nuts are an integral part of a squirrel’s diet. In fact, their primary food source is nuts that they gather throughout the year. However, in the wintertime, it can be far more difficult to locate nuts because of the natural life cycle of trees. Nuts are wildly available in the summer and fall, so squirrels eat their fill while stockpiling for the later months where nuts can’t be found quite as easily.
When squirrels hide their nuts in preparation for the winter, they are guaranteeing that they will have some food available. This preparation is a great combatant to food scarcity during seasons that are less abundant. While squirrels don’t recover 100% of the nuts they bury, they are certainly able to locate some of them, making the wintertime less scary for these hungry rodents.
Who is doing the burying?
Interestingly enough, only female squirrels are responsible for burying and locating nuts. Male squirrels aren’t particularly hardworking. In preparation for the winter, female squirrels do all the work! However, because the female squirrels are out and about hustling, male squirrels are more likely to be attacked by predators. It’s the price they pay for laziness!
How Do Squirrels Remember Where They Put Nuts?
Forgotten nuts are actually good for the environment. Many of the nuts that get forgotten are never discovered and, therefore, grow into trees! Squirrels are like nature’s farmers, replenishing forests with their nut-hiding techniques.
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This is a complex questions because, in some cases, the squirrels don’t find their nuts. Annually, squirrels can lose between 25-75% of the nuts they bury underground. However, it’s astonishing that they can discover any of them! Interestingly enough, there are two primary methods that squirrels use for remembering their nuts. Some species have specific techniques, while others try a few different tactics to locate their food.
Memory
Squirrels have fairly impressive memories. While humans joke about “squirrel brain,” their actual brains are capable of some solid memorizing. However, they also use memory tricks to help them track their steps. Squirrels will pick a landmark to bury nuts around so that they just need to return to the landmark to locate their dinner. While this method isn’t foolproof, it’s one of the helpful ways that they recover their buried nuts.
Sense of Smell
Squirrels have incredible sniffers. One way that they rediscover their buried nuts is by tracking them down with their nose. Generally, the squirrel will find their way back to a general location that they know they buried nuts and then use their sense of smell to identify the precise spot it was buried. This keeps the squirrel from digging up endless amounts of dirt trying to find a few nuts.
It’s important to note that sometimes the nut caches of squirrels get stolen. Theft is a big problem in the squirrel community, accounting for some of the nuts that aren’t found by the original hider. Squirrels sometimes hide their nuts in clever places to lower the chance of getting stolen. However, chances are that squirrels are stealing some nuts from other squirrels as they try to recover their own.
How Many Nuts Do Squirrels Bury Annually?
Generally, squirrels eat around an ounce and a half of nuts per day. This means they need to hide quite a few nuts in order to make it through the winter’s harsh food environment!
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To account for missing nuts, squirrels bury a massive amount of nuts each year. While different breeds of squirrels vary a bit in their nut-burying ability, some squirrels, like the gray squirrel, bury almost 10,000 nuts per year. That’s a pretty astonishing number! Gray squirrels can hide 50 nuts per hour. These squirrels are also pretty impressive at recovering their nuts, usually recovering between 50-85% of their treasures.
The photo featured at the top of this post is © Wolfgang Kruck/Shutterstock.com
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