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Short Stuff: Squirrel Nuts · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Here there, Hi, there, ho there, and welcome to these
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: short stuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and I'm Josh
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and there's Chuck, and Chuck's here and I'm Josh. And
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: let's go because we're talking about squirrels. So zip zip zai.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah, this is, you know, a continuant continuation of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: our squirrel talk. Um, we've never done one on squirrels,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: but I know a couple of years ago you talked
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: about the squirrel being your foe, and then you had
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: since turned to love and embrace squirrels. The squirrel. I
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: had a squirrel attack me, which you can see on
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: my video doorbell. If you go to Instagram Chuck the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Podcaster at Chuck the Podcaster, you can see my squirrel
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: attack that where the squirrel ran up my leg. And
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: now we're going to talk about something I thought was
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: pretty interesting, which is squirrels and the notion of them
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: gathering nuts and things for the wind and hiding them. Okay, wow,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: heck of an intro, Chuck. That's it for short stuff, everybody. Um, yeah,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: so I have heard about these studies before, hadn't you? Like?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: This isn't news to me? It was news to me, okay,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: so what we're talking about. It turns out that um
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: squirrels that live in trees called tree squirrels. They're different
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: from ground squirrels, and one big thing that differentiates them,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: aside from where they nest or den either on the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: ground or in a tree, is that tree squirrels typically
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: don't hibernate, which is cool because then that means you
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: can see squirrels year round. But it's rough for the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: squirrels because then that means that they have to sustain
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: themselves nutritionally throughout the year, which can get kind of
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: hard in the winter months, which is why everybody, squirrels,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: especially tree squirrels, tend to stow food. They gather food
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: during the fall to last them through the winter. That's right.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: And it's also why this time of years, especially in Atlanta,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: uh a k. A city of ten million squirrels, it
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: seems like they are everywhere this time of year. Um
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: nuts are falling on the ground, little acorns are falling
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: on the ground, and squirrels are very, very busy, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: it it's sort of you kind of take the squirrel
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: for granted because they're everywhere. But occasionally I will be
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: driving around, and I will just sort of laugh to
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: myself about the fact that in my perb, in my view,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: let's say, walking or driving, I see like ten wild
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: animals just running around in the middle of a city. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they're everywhere. They are. Well, you know, Georgia and Atlanta
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  Speaker 1: in particular is a particularly wooded metropolous, so it makes
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: sense that they be everywhere in Atlanta. I think if
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: you went to like Kansas City, you'd be sorely disappointed. Metropolis. Okay,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I'm trying not some new ways of same things. I
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: love it. I hope that fire. Thank you, thank you
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: so um With these uh, with these squirrels when they're
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: storing stuff for the winter, and when they're gathering all
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: this stuff, um, what are they eating. Well, they're eating
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: what's called mast, which is one of my favorite words.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It's also called tree fruit, things like acorns, basically any
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: nuts that grow on trees. They also, I didn't know
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: this chuck apparently also will eat baby birds while they're
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: in their nest. Nest Like, yeah, I didn't know that.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: That was disappointing to hear. It's a little rough. But
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: there's one other thing you need to know about squirrels.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing when they jump off of a tree
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  Speaker 1: and land on the ground. If you take a snapshot
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  Speaker 1: photo of them landing, they land like they're superheroes in
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: like a three point stance with their they're one of
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: their arms bawled into a fist and pulled up by
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: their side like they should have a cape and a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: mask on. Basically, it's it's pretty amazing. I think we
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: might have mentioned that in another episode, but it is.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: It is worth looking up on the internet for sure. Ye. So, um,
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  Speaker 1: when they're they're gathering nuts while they're wearing their little
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: cape or their mask, and as you know, um fall comes,
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  Speaker 1: they really have to step it up because they want
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  Speaker 1: to they want to gather it for winter. But the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: thing is is when they gather this stuff, they don't
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  Speaker 1: actually gather it and store it in their nest or
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: in their den because there's not enough room. And this
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: actually finally, Chuck, Finally, several minutes in four plus minutes
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: in we get to the point of this short stuff.
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  Speaker 1: I think we should take a break off. That's the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: best cliffhanger we've ever had. Are you kidding me? All right,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: all right, let's take a break, and we're going to
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: talk about what happens from this point forward. Right after this. Alright,
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  Speaker 1: superhero squirrels Winter is coming, Game of Throne style. Uh,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: they know they got to hoard those nuts. They're also
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: eaten nuts. Yeah, they've got to you know, sustain themselves
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  Speaker 1: along the way, so they will eat stuff that they find.
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  Speaker 1: But they also bury their stuff. That's what they do.
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  Speaker 1: They don't actually have like a pantry or an area
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  Speaker 1: of their den or nest where they're storing the nuts.
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  Speaker 1: They store them in an area around their tree usually
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: or where their nest or den is. But apparently Chuck,
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  Speaker 1: they'll they'll expand out like to seven a seven acre
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  Speaker 1: radius around that tree too. Yeah, they can. Um they're
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: called scatter hoarders. And I think generally they like to
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: kind of stick close to home, but if forced to
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  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, they will expand, like you said, up
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: to seven acres away from their tree. And uh, I think,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: you know, Chippendale did a lot of disservices. I don't
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: know if chipmunks are the same, but all you can
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: picture because of those Chippendale and Alvin and the gang,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: well I guess Alvin and then all they did was
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: performed concerts. But all you can think about with chip
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Chip and Dale's and running up and like stuffing a
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  Speaker 1: tree hole full of nuts with a winter So that's
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: kind of what you figure happens. But they don't. They
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  Speaker 1: They they know other squirrels are gonna be watching out,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: so and then you know, can combine and steal their
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  Speaker 1: their uh sack of nuts that is buried. So they
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  Speaker 1: bury them it's called caching about an inch underground and
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: cover them up again. They'll even crack open nuts sometimes
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: to keep them from German eating. And here was there's
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: two really great parts here to the end of this one.
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  Speaker 1: The first one really gets me was in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: eight they did a study that found that Eastern gray
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  Speaker 1: squirrels have deceptive caching. So they know other squirrels are watching,
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  Speaker 1: so they will literally go dig a little hole and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: go all right, I'm just gonna put this acorn right
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  Speaker 1: in here, stuff it in their mouth real quick, cover
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  Speaker 1: up the hole, and then run off and be like,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: all right, I've just left that acorn buried over there,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: nothing nothing, just you here. Isn't that amazing? It is
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: pretty amazing. I love that too, that that they they're
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: just play. Yeah, that's another way to put it. Um.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The other thing that they do as far as burying
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: this stuff um is that they will will put them
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: in areas where they're at risk to um go dig
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: them up, like at risk of predation, kind of out
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: in the open, far enough away from their tree where
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: they're kind of it's just getting increasingly risky to to
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to go retrieve that nut. But that they'll put high
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: value nuts there. And we'll talk about how how squirrels
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: short nuts in a second, but they put high value
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: nuts are because if it's risky for them, it's just
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: as risky for another squirrel who's nut who who it
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: doesn't belong to, And so that might cut down on
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: another squirrel coming along and pilfering their they're buried nuts.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: That's right. There was another study. This one was by
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  Speaker 1: Michael Delgado and Lucia Jacobs, professors that you ce Berkeley,
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  Speaker 1: and they said, you know what, this caching thing is
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  Speaker 1: a lot more complex than even we knew about. They
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  Speaker 1: did these experiments over nineteen months for fromen they fed
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  Speaker 1: forty five marked free ranging Eastern fox squirrels one nut
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  Speaker 1: at a time, uh sixteen for each squirrel and all
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  Speaker 1: different kinds of nuts, hazel nuts, pecans, walnuts, almost the
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: good stuff. And if the squirrels didn't eat the nuts,
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  Speaker 1: like you know, we said, they had to take care
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  Speaker 1: of themselves. But if they were had been fed for
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: the day, they tracked using GPS where they buried their
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: little nut prizes. And what did they find out. They
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  Speaker 1: found out that they um bury them basically according to
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  Speaker 1: things like size, type, potentially, calorie density, taste, um and
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  Speaker 1: so they graded them basically on on value. And so
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: like say, you know, they gave a squirrel a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of walnuts, they would bury the all nuts generally in
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the same area, away from say where they buried the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: almonds or the acorns or whatever. And this is called
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: spatial chunking, and it's a mnemonic device that we use,
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  Speaker 1: but it's pretty amazing that squirrels use it too, to
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  Speaker 1: remember where they put something generally, like walnuts are generally
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  Speaker 1: over here, so if I'm hungry for a walnut, i
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: can just go over there and I'm going to dig
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  Speaker 1: up a walnut. Yeah, So it's it's literally a device
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to remember things because it's a strategy. They said in
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: their quote, it's a. It's a cognitive strategy to decrease
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: memory load and increase accuracy of retrieval. So, um, how
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you translate that is, squirrels have a lot going on
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  Speaker 1: and they're bearing a lot of nuts, so they use
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  Speaker 1: this little pneumonic device to remember where all the good
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  Speaker 1: stuff is. Plus also don't forget they have squirrel sized brains.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, they want to take as many shortcuts and
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  Speaker 1: use as many mnemonic devices as they possibly can to
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  Speaker 1: remember where they bury these nuts. And it makes sense
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: that they would be good at this because their survive
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: all depends on it. You know, so are you, which
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: is to say huge brains, No, very small brains, very
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: small brains that are good at taking shortcuts, because it's true.
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  Speaker 1: One of the other things though, is this, This really
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  Speaker 1: indicates that squirrels remember where they bury nuts, and they do,
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  Speaker 1: they have devices for that, but they also forget a
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  Speaker 1: lot and they don't always crack open and nut, which
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  Speaker 1: means that squirrels go around and plant lots of trees
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  Speaker 1: every year by going and burying acorns you know, in
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the ground or walnuts in the ground. Um, that's how
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: That's one of the ways that some a lot of
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: trees are propagated is through squirrels who go basically garden,
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  Speaker 1: So that is squirrels everybody. They have their favorites and
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: they hide them where they don't want them to get found,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: just like I would do. You know what's weird, though, Chuck?
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I have one question real quick? Why don't humans eat acorns?
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Wet everything else? All those other nuts that they used
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: to test the squirrels out with, almonds, walnuts, um, all
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: that those two? Basically, why don't we acorns any ideas?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think they might be toxic and
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: they're bitter. Okay? You have a roast one for a
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: roasted acorn? Yeah, but like on a campfire? Did and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: eat it afterwards? Though? Acorn squash? Yeah, I don't. I
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: don't know if that's actually acorn. No, it's not. Um.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: You got anything else about squirrels or acorns or anything
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: like that. Nothing else? Okay? Well everybody, since Chuck said
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: nothing else, that means that we have come to the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: end of the short stuff, and short stuff is apt
• 11:32
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• 11:35
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• 11:40
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