We have five different bird feeders.  We love to watch birds, but sometimes it seems as if we really have squirrel feeders.  Right now as I type, two gray squirrels are arguing about who should be eating first, two other gray squirrels are chasing each other up a tree, two red squirrels are foraging under a different feeder and two chipmunks are racing from the feeder to their home along the stonewall.  Yes, there are some birds around too, but by far, the best fed animals in the yard have fuzzy tails!

Watching them prompted me to do a little research to see what kinds of problems I could create.  Fun Fact:  Squirrels bury  2/3’s more seeds than they recover.  That means they plant a lot of trees!

It is guessed that squirrels eat 187 nuts or seeds each day. How many nuts and seeds will five squirrels eat altogether in one day?  How many will they eat in a week?

Squirrels can run 20 miles per hour.  How many miles will they have run in 6 hours?

Squirrels can leap 18 feet.  How many feet will a squirrel go altogether if it leaps 6 times?

Chipmunks are hoarders.  That means they hide A LOT of food underground for later.  In one burrow the chipmunks had stored 21,574 nuts, 1,869 berries, 45 bird eggs and  32,083 seeds.  How much food had the chipmunks stored altogether?

Flying squirrels are amazing gliders.  The length of a typical glide is 78 feet.  The longest glide is around 295 feet.  How many more feet did the flying squirrel glide in the longest glide than in the typical glide?

Writing these problems reminds me of the Maryann Hoberman poem we shared together.  Do you remember it?

Nuts to you, and nuts to me!

Walnut, chestnut, hickory,

Butter-, coco-, hazel-, pea-

Nuts to you and its to me!

If you find time to do these problems, I’d love to know.  Leave a comment.  Do you have any stories about squirrels in your yard?  I’d love to hear them.