Squirrels seem to realise that the trees have eyes. To protect their food from would-be thieves, the rodents put on a great show of “hiding” non-existent nuts.
When squirrels have spare morsels they bury them, digging a separate hole for each tasty titbit. But up to 20 per cent of the time they are merely faking it, says Michael Steele of Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The squirrels act as if they are thrusting something into the pit, and the deception even extends to covering the fake cache with soil and leaves (Animal Behaviour, ).
Squirrels show fake-cacheing…
