UC Berkeley

A food-hoarding squirrel reshapes its physical environment through storing food. These changes have ramifications for future economic decisions that cascade into social and reproductive consequences. Food-hoarding strategies exist on a continuum from concentrated caches in a defended larder to scattered caches defended using memory and olfaction. These strategies emerge in response to specific physical environments. Because caches are pilfered, the hoarder must also respond to the competitive social environment. Here, we review recent studies, both from captivity and the field, on the socioeconomics and cognition of hoarding in tree squirrels and chipmunks. As ubiquitous inhabitants of an increasingly urbanized world, these studies illuminate the theoretical and applied research potential of the study of such decisions in squirrels.