Squirrels and Their Hidden Acorns Worksheet Download

Look at that gray squirrel with an acorn in its paws! Winter is coming and the squirrel is saving food. It digs a hole and buries the acorn.

That buried acorn is not lost! A gray squirrel hides one acorn at a time in many places. Later it finds many of them by memory and by smell.

But no squirrel finds every acorn it hides. Acorns left in the dirt can sprout into oak trees. So a forgotten snack can grow into a giant tree!

Do you know who hides snacks in the ground? A gray squirrel digs a tiny hole and drops in one acorn. It pats the dirt flat to save the snack for winter.

When winter comes, that squirrel gets hungry and goes looking. It hid acorns in many places, but it remembers lots of them. Its sharp nose can sniff out acorns hidden under the dirt!

Sniffing is smart, but sometimes a squirrel misses one acorn. A forgotten acorn can sprout, which means it starts to grow. Someday that lost snack may grow into an oak tree taller than a house!

Wow, squirrels are secret tree planters! In fall, a gray squirrel picks up an acorn, digs a small hole, and tucks the nut inside. Then it pats the dirt down and scampers off to hide another one.

Hiding one acorn at a time gives a squirrel lots of different secret spots. Can it remember them all? A squirrel finds many of its acorns again by using its memory and its good nose, which can sniff out a nut under the ground.

Still, no squirrel finds every acorn it hides. An acorn left in the soil can sprout, which means a tiny green shoot grows out of it. Years later, that sprout can become a tall oak tree, and that is how squirrels help plant forests.

Oak trees also make cozy homes, because gray squirrels build leafy nests called dreys high in the branches. Red squirrels get ready for winter in a different way, by keeping their food in one big pile. So a squirrel's forgotten snack can turn into a giant tree that shelters squirrels for years!

Imagine you are a gray squirrel on a crisp autumn morning. Acorns plop from the oak trees, and leaves crunch under your paws! You grab one, dig a small hole, drop it in, and pat the dirt flat. Hiding food to eat later is called caching, and you will do it many times before winter.

When winter comes, your scattered snacks will be a map in your head. Gray squirrels bury nuts one at a time in many different spots, so no thief can take them all. To find them again, a squirrel uses its memory and its sharp sense of smell. It can sniff out a nut even when snow covers the ground, though it never finds every one!

Each forgotten nut is a gift to the forest, because an acorn left in the soil can sprout. First a tiny root pushes down, and then a green shoot reaches up toward the sun. Over many years, the shoot can grow into an oak taller than a house, so squirrels help plant forests!

Those trees give squirrels more than food, since leafy nests called dreys sit in their branches. A drey is a cozy ball of leaves and twigs. Red squirrels get ready for winter another way: they keep their food in one big pile. So the next time you stand under an oak, remember it may be there because a squirrel forgot a snack.

It is a crisp November morning, and a gray squirrel hops across a park covered in crunchy brown leaves. It stops, sniffs the air, and holds an acorn in its front paws. Then it digs a small hole, drops the acorn in, and packs the dirt down with its nose. Off it dashes to do the very same thing in a brand-new spot!

That quick dash is part of a clever plan called scatter-hoarding. To hoard means to save up a big supply, and to scatter means to spread out. A gray squirrel buries nuts one at a time in many different places, so a thief that finds one stash still leaves the rest safe. Months later, the squirrel finds many nuts again by remembering where they are and sniffing them out, even under snow.

Many is not the same as all, and that is wonderful news for the forest. Did you know an acorn left in the soil can sprout into a baby oak tree? Given many years, that sprout can grow into a towering oak, so squirrels help plant forests without ever meaning to.

Gray squirrels may plant forests by accident, but the red squirrel stores its food very differently. This smaller cousin of the gray squirrel heaps its food, such as pine cones, into one big pile called a midden. Gray squirrels spread out their risk, but a red squirrel keeps everything in one place and guards it from other squirrels.

Even a busy guard needs a cozy place to rest, and for many squirrels that is a drey. A drey is a round nest of leaves and twigs, usually built high in a tree. Squirrels stay active all winter and come out on milder days to dig up their stored food. So the next time you stand under a tall oak, remember that it may have begun as a squirrel's forgotten snack.

Picture a gray squirrel on a crisp November morning, digging a tiny hole, dropping in one acorn, and patting the dirt flat with its nose. Then it scampers off and does the very same thing a few feet away. Here is the puzzle: weeks later, with cold winds blowing, that squirrel can trot straight to a patch of ordinary grass and dig up its snack. How can it possibly find one hidden acorn in a yard full of look-alike dirt?

The first clue is in how the squirrel hides its food. Gray squirrels bury nuts one at a time, each in a different spot, a habit scientists call scatter hoarding, so a thief that finds one stash cannot steal the whole supply. Researchers have even watched squirrels dig pretend holes when other animals are watching, which may fool would-be robbers. To find the real stashes later, squirrels rely on their memory of landmarks such as trees and fences, and on their noses, which can sniff out buried food.

Even the best memory has gaps, and those gaps turn out to be good news for forests. An acorn that never gets dug up may sprout in spring and start growing into an oak tree. Some oaks live for hundreds of years, so one forgotten snack can grow into a giant that shades a park long after the squirrel is gone. Squirrels do not plant on purpose, but by burying so many acorns in so many places, they help forests spread.

Forests of pine and spruce are home to a squirrel with a very different plan, the red squirrel. Red squirrels are smaller than gray squirrels, but they guard their food fiercely. Instead of scattering treasure, a red squirrel piles pine cones and other food into one big heap called a midden. Because the cool, damp pile can help keep cones closed, the seeds inside may stay fresh for a long time.

Whether a squirrel hoards in one pile or in many holes, it still needs a cozy spot to wait out the cold: a drey. A drey is a ball of twigs, leaves and moss, built high where branches meet. Squirrels do not hibernate, so on the coldest days they curl up in a drey or tree hole, then venture out to dig up their stored food. So when you see a squirrel patting down dirt, remember that the spot might hold a winter snack or a future oak.