Do squirrels remember where they bury their nuts?
Do squirrels remember where they bury their nuts?
Throughout the course of each year, squirrels save and store nuts, and bury them to eat in the winter. During the winter seasons, it is too snowy to leave their burrows to hunt for food, so the squirrels consume nuts from their underground storage. However, burying almost 5,000 nuts per year can be tricky for squirrels to remember the 5,000 different hiding places for each nut. Some scientists wonder if squirrels can actually remember where they bury their nuts.
It was conventional wisdom that squirrels could sniff out their nuts’ hiding places. However, this theory is no longer held. Now, scientists think that squirrels possess a comprehensive memory that allows them to remember where they hid their nuts. This is a great feat because the animals store up to 5,000 nuts each winter, which means recalling 5000 different hiding spots.
If other squirrels are watching a squirrel bury his nut, they will unearth the nut and eat it once the squirrel has left. So squirrels have to be careful around their fellow squirrels or their nuts will be taken.
Squirrels’ brains are rapidly growing during the year, so by the time winter comes, they have an amazing memory and are able to remember all of the spots where their nuts are buried. The squirrels’ nuts are buried relatively close to one another, so they will not have to search far and wide for their nuts in the winter. During the winter, they just eat and sleep.
Squirrel’s winter nut stashing is intriguing. The brain capacity that it takes to recall all of those hiding spots gives them a better memory then the human brain. Scientists suprisingly know so little about this whole process.
Throughout the course of each year, squirrels save and store nuts, and bury them to eat in the winter. During the winter seasons, it is too snowy to leave their burrows to hunt for food, so the squirrels consume nuts from their underground storage. However, burying almost 5,000 nuts per year can be tricky for squirrels to remember the 5,000 different hiding places for each nut. Some scientists wonder if squirrels can actually remember where they bury their nuts.
It was conventional wisdom that squirrels could sniff out their nuts’ hiding places. However, this theory is no longer held. Now, scientists think that squirrels possess a comprehensive memory that allows them to remember where they hid their nuts. This is a great feat because the animals store up to 5,000 nuts each winter, which means recalling 5000 different hiding spots.
If other squirrels are watching a squirrel bury his nut, they will unearth the nut and eat it once the squirrel has left. So squirrels have to be careful around their fellow squirrels or their nuts will be taken.
Squirrels’ brains are rapidly growing during the year, so by the time winter comes, they have an amazing memory and are able to remember all of the spots where their nuts are buried. The squirrels’ nuts are buried relatively close to one another, so they will not have to search far and wide for their nuts in the winter. During the winter, they just eat and sleep.
Squirrel’s winter nut stashing is intriguing. The brain capacity that it takes to recall all of those hiding spots gives them a better memory then the human brain. Scientists suprisingly know so little about this whole process.