Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Are squirrels more likely to climb a tree to eat food when there are people around?

Introduction
                Animals become very territorial when it comes to eating their food.  Squirrels are no different.  They do not share their food with others and will eat alone.  While observing them, the squirrels would sometimes eat their food on the ground and other times they would climb a tree with their food before consuming it.  I hypothesize that a squirrel will decide to climb a tree to eat its food whenever it notices a human nearby.
Materials and Methods
                A possible experiment for this hypothesis would be to observe squirrels when they are eating both in the presence and absence of a human.  In order to watch a squirrel eating without being detected by the squirrel, a video camera would need to be set up.  For observations with a human presence, the human would need to make sure that the squirrel notices the human.  Each squirrel observed would need to be watched for behaviors both with and without the human being present for multiple trials.  A t-test could then be used to determine if there is a significant difference between each individual squirrel’s choice of whether to eat on the ground or climb a tree.
Jacobs, L. (1989). Cache economy of the gray squirrel. Natural History, 98(10), 40. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

2 comments:

  1. http://squirrelehtogram.blogspot.com/

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    1. The natural environment that will have the eastern grey of the habitat place that the squirrels of that habitat will to have to change Current hypotheses for primate origins propose that nails and primate-like grasping hands and feet were important early adaptations for feeding in fine branches. Comparative research in this area has focused on instances of convergence of feed predominantly from terminal branches.

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