Foraging Patterns of Eastern Red Squirrels

Abstract

Red squirrels ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) exhibit two modes of food hoarding across their range, larderhoarding in the west and scatterhoarding in the east. Because most studies have been conducted in the west, it is commonly thought that larderhoarding is characteristic of the species. We investigated the numbers of cones in caches, feeding locations relative to caches, daily consumption of cones, and whether cover might influence feeding location, in a jack pine ( Pinus banksiana ) plantation near Brockway, New Brunswick, Canada, from November 1990 to December 1991. Scatterhoarding occurred among squirrels during autumn 1990 and 1991. Squirrels cached enough cones to survive ca. 37 days in autumn 1990 and 7 days in 1991, based on an estimate of cone consumption of 47/day from four territories in autumn 1990. During winter 1990–1991, heavy feeding occurred on cones picked from, and cached in, trees. Most cones (86%) were eaten in trees according to surveys in varied coniferous stand types throughout New Brunswick during winter 1990–1991. It appears that small, scattered caches predominate in the east and probably are as extensive as larderhoards in the west.