Nature Smart

Eastern Gray Squirrel with acorn taken in southern MN

By Stan Tekiela

I was recently asked by a local TV news station to answer a question about how squirrels find their buried nuts. This is a great example of super cool things that go on in nature that most people don’t understand or realize. So, let’s look at these amazing squirrels and their incredible ability to bury nuts and find them later.

The Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is a large tree dwelling squirrel found in North America. It is native to the eastern half of the country. There are several similar species in the western half of the country also. They come in a wide variety of colors from pure white (albino) to partial white (leucistic), to all black (melanistic), and auburn (rusty brown) but of course they are mainly gray.

But it’s the squirrel’s ability to bury nuts and more importantly how they find them later that is so interesting. First of all, Eastern Gray Squirrels can’t put on enough fat to last them all winter so hibernating like other squirrels isn’t an option. They need to have access to food all winter. So, storing food for winter starts back in summer when the oak, hickory and walnut trees are dropping their nuts.

Squirrels are considered scatter hoarders, which means instead of storing all their winter food supply in one place, like chipmunks, they scatter their food around in many places. This is a great strategy to prevent losing everything if another squirrel, raccoon, or skunk raids their stash of food.

Each nut that the squirrel finds in summer and fall is given a full examination. They roll the nut around and around in their front paws feeling for the shell’s integrity. They inspect it for cracks and holes in the shell. They also sniff/smell the nut checking to see if it is rotten or spoiled. Once it passes these quality control tests the squirrel decides if it will eat the nut now or save it for later.

If they determine that they want to save it for later, they move away from the site they found it and look for a place to bury the nut. Usually, they dig a shallow hole with their front paws and then push the nut down into the soil. However, if they feel like another squirrel is watching they will pretend to bury the nut, going through all the motions of concealing it but won’t actually do it. They scamper off until they feel no other squirrel is watching and then bury it.

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