"In the red squirrel world, the system is very similar to what we see in many cities," said Stan Boutin, a professor in biological sciences at the University of Alberta. "Every individual or family owns a little piece of real estate and they defend that real estate very vigorously against everybody else." For squirrels, that real estate is the food caches of cones from spruce trees that are collected and hidden away to use throughout the winter. Food caches of cones are the equivalent of real estate for squirrels, says Stan Boutin. The ones that find food caches hidden away by older squirrels, who have left the area or died, have hit the jackpot.

Source: CBC News March 10, 2019 16:52 UTC