Chapter 1: Eating

Food, glorious food! There's nothing like it. I love to eat. Y-U-M! That's right, I'm a big fan of food. Are you?

What's your favorite food? Mine is nuts. Yeah, I'm nuts about nuts. Walnuts, beechnuts, hickory nuts, acorns, things that look like nuts. They're delicious, nutritious and easy to stash away for later. But you know what, I'm not picky. And everyone likes a little variety, right? I eat seeds too. And sometimes flowers and those tasty little leaf buds, and maybe even a little tree bark to spice things up. It's crunchy, you know. If I'm really hungry and want something ultra-gourmet, I may go out on the town, find a nice, juicy egg in a bird's nest, or chow down on some wiggly insects. Now, that's a fine meal! I'll also be happy to help you out by finishing your leftovers, especially the ones you leave out on Monday mornings in big plastic bags with little rips in them. Got bread, meat, cupcakes? Yum! I'll eat pretty much anything I can find.

In the fall, I spend a lot of time hiding my nuts in little bunches just under the ground, so I'll have them in the winter, when they're harder to find. But my memory's not so good and I can't always remember where I hid everything. And the trees thank me for that, since the ones I never dig up often grow into trees later on! Hey, I’m gardening for wildlife too! How cool is that?!

To help me eat all these tasty treats, I've got a nice set of teeth. Hopefully you haven't seen rodent teeth too close up, but they are built for chewing on nuts! My front teeth (the incisors) are strong and have a sharp inside edge that makes them, luckily for me, excellent for gnawing and stripping bark off trees. They continue to grow throughout my whole life. Teeth are a most excellent adaptation!

We squirrels have to eat a lot! About our own weight in food every week! That's about one pound, you know.