{"id":752725,"date":"2018-04-13T12:01:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T12:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arkcenter.us\/?p=752725"},"modified":"2018-04-13T12:01:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T12:01:05","slug":"uc-berkeley-research-shows-squirrel-behavior-is-not-so-nutty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=752725","title":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley research shows squirrel behavior is not so &#8216;nutty&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<blockquote  class=\"bs-quote bs-quote-1 bsq-t1 bsq-s1 bsq-left\">\n\t\t<div class=\"quote-content\">\n\t\t\t<p>What\u2019s cool is that these animals are solving problems right under our feet and most people don\u2019t realize it... Animals are as smart as they need to be, including humans.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><br \/>\nLAURA SHIELDS:<\/strong> <em>&#8216;As the squirrel rotates a nut between its front paws, its brain is considering a variety of factors to reach the answer to a critical question: Do I eat this nut now, or do I store it for later? That\u2019s one of the conclusions of the most comprehensive study of the squirrels\u2019 decision-making process \u2013 research that revealed that their behaviors are far more intricate than the casual observer realizes.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>An analysis of fox squirrels on the UC Berkeley campus by psychologist Mikel Delgado found that the rodents weigh multiple variables when deciding to store \u2013 or cache \u2013 food for later. Squirrels assess the characteristics of a food item, such as its perishability and nutritional value. They also consider the availability of food at that time and the presence or absence of competitors. \u201cWhat\u2019s cool is that these animals are solving problems right under our feet and most people don\u2019t realize it,\u201d said Delgado, whose Ph.D. dissertation was on the complexity of squirrel behavior&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Delgado hopes her research on the cognitive ability of the fox squirrel will help people appreciate squirrels more. \u201cAnimals are as smart as they need to be, including humans,\u201d she explained. \u201cThey have evolved to solve a particular type of problem, and for squirrels that problem is storing food and finding it later. They are really good at that problem&#8221;.&#8217;<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2018\/04\/09\/uc-berkeley-research-shows-squirrel-behavior-is-not-so-nutty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>SOURCE&#8230;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED VIDEO:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XRyMEW8Y-mc?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAURA SHIELDS: &#8216;As the squirrel rotates a nut between its front paws, its brain is considering a variety of factors to reach the answer to a critical question: Do I eat this nut now, or do I store it for later? That\u2019s one of the conclusions of the most comprehensive study of the squirrels\u2019 decision-making [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":752726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,24],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-752725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kisnship","category-science","tag-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=752725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":752727,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752725\/revisions\/752727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/752726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=752725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=752725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=752725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}