Hoarding (animal behavior) facts for kids
Hoarding or caching is when animals hide food. They store it in secret places. This keeps the food safe from other animals, even those of their own kind. Animals usually do this when they have extra food. They save it for later, when food is harder to find. Sometimes, animals hide food to let it ripen. This is called ripening caching.
We usually say "hoarding" for rodents like hamsters. "Caching" is more often used for birds. But the way both groups hide food is very similar. Animals can hide food for a short time, like a few days. Or they can hide it for a long time, even for months.
Many animals hide their food. This includes rodents like hamsters and squirrels. Many birds also do it, such as rooks and woodpeckers. The western scrub jay is especially good at caching food.
There are two main ways animals hide food:
- Larder-hoarding: Animals create one or a few big hidden food stores. They often protect these stores.
- Scatter-hoarding: Animals make many small hidden food stores. Each food item might be in its own unique spot.
Both ways of hiding food have their own benefits.
Contents
Why Animals Hide Food
Animals hide food to save it for later. This can be for food they will eat soon, like a jaguar hanging a half-eaten meal in a tree. Or it can be for food they will eat many months later. Hiding food is a common way for animals to deal with seasonal changes. For example, in places with harsh winters, food becomes scarce. By hiding food in warmer months, animals have a better chance to survive. This idea is even in the famous story, The Ant and the Grasshopper.
Ripening Caching
Some animals collect food that isn't ready to eat yet. They hide it to let it "ripen" and become edible. For example, tayras, which are like weasels from Central America, pick green plantains. They hide them and come back to eat them after they are ripe. Leafcutter ants gather pieces of leaves that they can't eat directly. They store them underground. These leaves then grow a special fungus, which is the ants' main food.
How Animals Hide Food
Animals hide food in different ways. This depends on whether they are scatter-hoarders or larder-hoarders.
Scatter Hoarding
Scatter hoarding is when an animal makes many small hidden food stores. Birds like the Canada jay and small mammals like eastern gray squirrels do this. Animals that don't migrate or hibernate often scatter hoard. This behavior is very important for spreading seeds. Any seeds left behind can sprout. This helps plants spread their populations.
Scatter hoarders spread their food out to protect it. If a competitor finds one hidden spot, they won't easily find the rest. This makes it harder for others to steal all their food. However, having many hidden spots means the animal needs a good memory. Scatter-hoarders often have a large hippocampus, which is a part of the brain linked to memory.
Larder Hoarding
In larder hoarding, the animal keeps all its hidden food in one big place. This place is called a larder. It's often where the animal lives, like its nest. Hamsters are famous larder hoarders. In fact, the German word for "to hoard" (hamstern) comes from the word for "hamster." Other languages also connect hamsters with hoarding.
The downside of larder hoarding is that if someone finds the hidden food, the animal loses everything. It's much easier to remember one big spot. But these larger food stores must be defended very carefully.
Other Behaviors
Guarding Food
Most animals are very careful when they hide food. They try to make sure no one is watching them. They also try to hide their food in secret spots. However, some animals, like shrikes, store their prey on thorns in the open.
Sharing Food Stores
Most animals hide food by themselves. This includes almost all rodents and birds. For example, some jays live in big family groups. But they don't share their hidden food. Each bird hides and finds its own food in secret.
Only a few species share their food stores. These include beavers and acorn woodpeckers. Beavers live in family groups and build large winter food stores of branches underwater. Acorn woodpeckers are special because they build a big, noticeable shared food store.
Pilfering (Stealing Food)
Pilferage is when one animal takes food from another animal's hidden store. Some animals lose a lot of their hidden food to pilfering. Up to 30% of their food can be stolen each day.
Reciprocal Pilfering
Some animals, like rodents and chickadees, both hide food and steal food from others. This means that stealing can go both ways. Even though it looks like cooperation, scientists think it's mostly about each animal looking out for itself.
Recaching
Animals sometimes re-hide food they have stolen from other animals. For example, scientists tracked Jeffrey pine seeds hidden by yellow pine chipmunks. They found that many seeds were moved multiple times. This shows that hidden food supplies are always changing.
Deception
Common ravens often hide food in groups. They also steal food from others' hidden spots. When ravens hide their food, they try to stay away from other ravens. They often hide food behind things so others can't see. Ravens who want to steal watch quietly from a distance. If a raven thinks it's being watched, it might stop hiding food, change its hiding spot, or even dig up its food again. These actions suggest that ravens can hide what they plan to do. This is a type of "tactical deception."
Similarly, Eurasian jays prefer to hide food behind something they can't see through, rather than something clear. This suggests they choose hidden spots to make it harder for other jays to steal their food.
Images for kids
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Western scrub jays cache food such as acorns and insects.
See also
In Spanish: Almacenaje animal para niños
