Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [nafex] squirrel behavior

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] squirrel behavior
  • Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 13:29:10 -0500


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



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page