North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On Nov 27, 2013, at 1:11 PM, Alan Haigh wrote:

> I was wondering how they were clever enough to learn
> this and seemingly pass it on to the next generation when my son pointed
> out that maybe I eliminated the animals who had it in their DNA to run up a
> tree during danger.  There's a research project just waiting for funding!

Squirrels can definitely learn things and pass them along to other squirrels. 
My father grew corn in his backyard for many years, with no trouble from the 
healthy local squirrel population. Then one year (after growing the corn for 
perhaps 10 years) they discovered that they liked to eat corn. He didn't get 
any corn after that, until we got a dog who spent much of the day on a run 
between the garden and the oak trees. After a couple of years, I think the 
population that knew how yummy corn is died out. He continued to grow corn 
after the dog died.

Ginda