Comment by Tostino
3 months ago
What other creatures show this kind of hoarding pattern in nature?
Storing more of a thing than can (reasonably) be used in hundreds, or thousands of lifetimes?
I don't know of any (others) that do so, and then pass the hoard down through the generations.
> What other creatures show this kind of hoarding pattern in nature?
Acorn woodpeckers, beavers, and corvids exhibit true, generational hoarding behavior.
Younger generations learn and maintain the same caches, structures, or techniques as their elders.
Chipmunks and Squirrels.
Do they hoard unnecessarily, or do they hoard what they need to get through winter months, without much surplus?
They hoard instinctively. They can't count; they don't have a sense of "this is enough."
They hoard until it gets too cold, then they hibernate/hunker down until it gets warm.
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I've heard that a lot of trees are grown from forgotten squirrel seed stashes. So at the very least they do store more than they eat.
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Very much the former.