(July 6, 2015) They
may be viewed by some as an invasive species or a commonplace pest of public
parks, but a new study from the University of Exeter has shown that grey
squirrels are actually quick learners capable of adapting tactics to improve
efficiency and reap the best rewards.
To test the animals’ intelligence and mental flexibility
researchers invented a task involving a box with 12 sunken wells, four of which
were hollow. Of the four, two contained hidden hazelnuts.
The five squirrels observed in the study (named Simon,
Arnold, Sarah, Leonard and Suzy) were all given training prior to the task so
they were proficient at using their paws or teeth to peel back the layer of
paper hiding a nut inside the wells.
The hazelnuts were placed in the wells diagonally across
from each other, meaning that the least efficient way for the squirrels to
locate the food was to check each well in a clockwise or counter-clockwise
sequence, and the most effective was an ‘integrative’ approach where squirrels
checked only the two diagonal wells that contained food, ignoring the two empty
wells.
In the study, published today in the Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, all of the squirrels showed clear
improvement over successive attempts with the box, becoming more efficient in
adjusting their behaviour to adapt to the task.