Squirls
Posted by John Duckett on December 26, 2005
Q: How many nuts does the typical grey squirl store up for the winter? One of the TV nature shows said 15,000 nuts. That seems quite high. Lets assume that it is a snowy area where little other vegitation is present. Can you give me a good estimate?
Habitat: forest/open woods
State: Tennessee
Habitat: forest/open woods
A: When I saw your question, I too thought the 15,000 number seemed high. After a bit of searching however, I did find a source that said Red Squirrels have been known to hide as many as 14,000 cones in one season. Wow, seems high doesn't it! This may be an unusually high number in a year when the cone crop was especially high. The acorn crop that is important for Gray Squirrels varies from year to year and so their storage would vary as well. I do know that research has shown that Fox Squirrels retrieve as many as 99% of the nuts they've stored. Hope this helps a bit. Thanks for asking.
John Wiessinger ( December 27, 2005)