Thursday, September 29, 2005

Squirrel midden



A Red Squirrel midden on the Wishart Trail. Midden is, appropriately, an old word for garbage dump (more or less). Squirrel middens contain the remnants of spruce cones and shells left behind as the squirrel seeks out the seeds enclosed in them. Sometimes squirrels use the middens themselves to burrow in and hide more food.

Scientists occasionally sift through squirrel middens to learn what food resources the squirrels are using over the course of a year.

2 comments:

Cici said...

those darn scientists

Anonymous said...

@Cici ...