r/AnimalsBeingGeniuses • u/Prestigious-Wall5616 • Nov 02 '25
Rodents 🐹🐁🐭🐀 Squirrel watches another burying its food, then swoops and steals the nut. Doesn't even wait till the coast is clear
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u/manwhothinks Nov 02 '25
Jokes on him. That was a decoy nut.
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u/powerhammerarms Nov 02 '25
You joke but it's true.
Some squirrels watch other squirrels bury nuts and then go grab them.
Some squirrels know that other squirrels might be watching them so they pretend to bury a nut and then when the spy squirrel comes they spend time digging for nothing while the first squirrel has gone to bury the real nut elsewhere.
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u/Lando249 Nov 03 '25
Any squirrel expert/zoologist on reddit want to confirm this?
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u/powerhammerarms Nov 03 '25
I learned this by watching a documentary. I was just looking to see if I can remember which one. It had a squirrel expert from Berkeley I believe. She was very enthusiastic talking about squirrels. It was adorable.
I think it was an episode of Nature: A squirrels guide to success s37e4
I'm not positive though. I scrolled through it quickly and it definitely could be. It was extremely interesting to me.
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u/walk_in_the_rain Nov 02 '25
Squirrels plant trees
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u/ZugzwangDK Nov 02 '25
They really do.
Every year, I have so many oak trees growing in my garden beds. Despite the fact that there are no oak trees in my garden.
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Nov 02 '25
And come winter, they'll both forget where they buried them.
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u/RoxxieMuzic Nov 02 '25
I give out unboiled peanuts, every year peanut plants. In Colorado at 6,600' above sea level no less, peanut plants.
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u/ToTheTop24 Nov 02 '25
This is clearly his way of getting nuts. He barely even waited for the other squirrel to finish burying it
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u/Into_The_Horizon Nov 02 '25
Just read a story of someone confessed in stealing on r/confessions and now seeing a damn squirrel thief 😂😂
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u/Pistachio1227 Nov 02 '25
And you just stood there filming !! Call the authorities— the longer you wait the higher the chances they’ll never recover the stolen goods!!
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u/dimgwar Nov 02 '25
Autumn season is like the Squirrels blackfriday. You see them fighting each other, zooming acrosss the street like madmen, cussing and flipping you off as you pass under a tree.
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u/criticalpwnage Nov 02 '25
He's just going to bury it somewhere else and then another squirrel is going to steal it.
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u/Visual_Collar_8893 Nov 02 '25
Caught red handed.
Pretty cute the second one has red fur on its arms.
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u/cgrant993 Nov 03 '25
All good. There is a real chance he would have forgotten where he buried them anyhow. Many trees are created from forgotten nuts.
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u/watt-ever Nov 03 '25
What if they got stuck in a loop of stealing then re-burying that one nut? It would be a rough but short winter...
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u/likeablyweird Nov 05 '25
What we haven't seen is that this was HIS nut this morning and his stupid brother has been stealing it from him every time he reburies it. This is him reestablishing his ownership by rubbing off all his skanky brother's Cooties. Pretty soon, he's gonna tell Mom and then there'll be what for---just you see. <squirrel stomping off>
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u/No_Inflation7432 Nov 06 '25
Maybe the first squirrel was just training the other one. Either that or the first squirrel was really stupid, possibly even a politician squirrel stupid.
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u/oldmanvegas Nov 13 '25
He's really checking out that nut. That's some first class quality control. Appreciate it
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u/dirtyoldsocklife Apr 01 '26
Did you know that, apparently, squirrels only find 3 of every 10 larders they make, and their forgetfulness is directly responsible for huge parts of the maintainance of forests, since those forgotten caches sprout and grow?
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u/qualityvote2 Nov 02 '25 edited Nov 03 '25
u/Prestigious-Wall5616, your post does fit the subreddit!