Squirrels are commonly observed darting across lawns and scaling trees. Their diligent food gathering is a familiar sight in many natural and urban environments. This instinctual drive to collect and store provisions is fundamental to their survival, ensuring they have access to nourishment when natural food sources become scarce.
Seasonal Cues for Nut Gathering
Squirrels typically begin their intensive nut-gathering activities in late summer and continue through the fall. This timing aligns with the natural ripening and dropping of various nuts and seeds, such as acorns, hickory nuts, and walnuts. Environmental signals play a significant role in triggering this behavior, acting as a biological calendar for these animals.
One important cue is the shortening of daylight hours, known as photoperiod, which signals the approaching winter. As days grow shorter and temperatures start to drop, squirrels experience hormonal shifts that intensify their drive to hoard food. These changes prompt them to prepare extensively for the colder months when foraging opportunities will be limited.
The Purpose of Food Hoarding
Squirrels engage in diligent food gathering primarily for survival through the colder months. During winter, natural food sources become scarce or inaccessible. Stored food provides essential energy and nutrients, enabling squirrels to maintain their body temperature and metabolic processes.
Nuts and seeds are especially valuable for long-term storage due to their high caloric content. These energy-dense provisions help squirrels sustain themselves during periods of low food availability, as they do not hibernate fully but remain active throughout winter. Stored provisions are consumed as needed to maintain body condition and warmth.
Squirrel Food Storage Strategies
Squirrels employ distinct strategies for storing their collected food. One common method is scatter hoarding, where individual nuts or small caches are buried in numerous scattered locations. This technique reduces the risk of losing an entire food supply if a single cache is discovered by other animals.
Forgotten scatter hoards also play an ecological role, as these unretrieved nuts can germinate and contribute to new tree growth.
Another strategy is larder hoarding, which involves creating a single, larger stash of food. These centralized stores are often located in protected spots like tree cavities, abandoned burrows, or within their nests. Larder hoarding offers advantages such as easier access to a large food supply during harsh weather and reduced energy expenditure for retrieval, though it presents a higher risk if the main cache is compromised. Squirrels collect a variety of items, including nuts, seeds, and sometimes fungi, using their sense of smell to locate their hidden provisions.