Page 84 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02

LEFT Sessile oak
leaves and acorns on
moss. Red squirrels
can recognise ripe food
by smell: squirrelling
away food is a waste
of effort if it is not
nutritious. The rodents
will reject acorns and
hazelnuts that have
been hollowed out by
weevils, acknowledging
that they are too light.

LEFT In autumn when food is
abundant, squirrels have plenty of
spare time to collect nuts one at a
time in their mouth. They scrape a
small hole in soft earth and bury their
prize, patting the soil down on top
to hide it from birds. The caching is
not random: a particular place will be
chosen that they can find later.

84 BBC Wildlife February 2018