[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-detail-595408-en":59,"doc-seo-595408-105":79},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":60},{"doc_id":61,"user_id":62,"nickname":63,"user_avatar":64,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":66,"doc_content":67,"file_id":68,"file_url":69,"file_type":70,"file_size":71,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":72,"language_code":73,"site_id":74,"html_lang":73,"table_of_contents":75,"faqs":76,"seo_title":77,"seo_description":66,"update_tm":78,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},595408,24464137899374,"Blitz","https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Squirrel Foraging Preferences - Gone Nuts? - Lab Exercise","This field exercise investigates the feeding preferences of Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) by offering students a cafeteria-style set of food resources. Students present multiple food types in equal amounts to test hypotheses about foraging and diet choice. Suitable for introductory biology, ecology, and animal behavior courses, the activity engages students in the full scientific process: designing the experiment, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting outcomes.","Squirrel Foraging Preferences: Gone Nuts?  \nRandi A. Darling  \nDepartment of Biological Sciences, 577 Western Avenue, P. O. Box 1630, Westfield State College  \nWestfield, MA 01086  \nEmail: [rdarling@wsc.ma.edu](rdarling@wsc.ma.edu)  \nAbstract: This field exercise examines the feeding preferences of Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) . Students present squirrels with a variety of food types in a cafeteria-style arrangement in order to test hypotheses about foraging preferences. This exercise, which is appropriate for introductory biology, ecology, and animal behavior classes, is designed to allow students to be involved in the entire scientific process. Students design the experiment, collect the data, and analyze and interpret the results.  \nKeywords: Foraging, foraging preference, feeding preference, diet choice, squirrels  \nIntroduction  \nAnimals often prefer specific food types. Many reasons may be responsible. Particular food resources may provide more energy, or they may be more profitable (provide more energy per time spent foraging). Certain prey may be more conspicuous, easier to find, open, capture or handle, or provide essential nutrients. Some studies have found that animals prefer larger, more profitable prey (Werner and Hall,1974; Krebs,1978) . Other studies have found that when prey have hard cases or shells, foragers may avoid prey that are tough or difficult to open, even if they are large (Meire and Ervynck, 1986). Foragers may also avoid prey that are spiny or difficult to handle (Barnhise, 1991), or prey that is evasive (Vinyard, 1982). Additionally, prey choice may be influenced by prey that provide predators with essential nutrients (Belovsky, 1978) .  \nThe foraging preferences for a particular species can be examined by designing experiments in which individuals are presented with a range of different resources to measure prey selection. In this experiment, students examine the food resource preference of Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) by presenting them with a “cafeteria-style” selection: squirrels are given a selection of several different food items presented in equal amounts (FIG 1) . This laboratory works well for testing the feeding preferences of Gray Squirrels, but can be adapted to work with any field rodent that forages on nuts and seeds. Gray Squirrels can be found in forests, parks, cities, and suburbs. Like many animals, they are particularly active in the morning and evening. They feed on a wide range of nuts, seeds, fruit, and bark (Whitaker, 1996). They nest in cavities in trees, or in large nests they build in the tops of trees. Gray Squirrels are scatter-hoarders. In the fall, they are especially active and run about gathering nuts and seeds that they store in a many different small holes that they dig in the ground. During the winter and  \nspring, they rely on these cached nuts and seeds (Whitaker, 1996) .  \nFIG 1. A cafeteria-style arrangement of various food types. Students can examine squirrel foraging preferences by placing out equal quantities of various food types and measuring food selection. Note: the term “shelled nuts” refers to nuts that have had the shell removed. Students often use this term to mean the opposite. Therefore, to avoid confusion, I prefer to say “nuts with shells” and “nuts without shells.”  \nMethods  \nIn my class, rather than give the students the methods, I encourage the class to think about the issues involved in designing an experiment and allow students to design their own field experiment. Below, I have outlined the issues that the class should discuss.  \nFood  \nThe class should first discuss how various factors, such as the size of food items (energy consumed), type of food (nuts, seeds, fruits,“natural”food items versus novel food items), and ease of opening (nuts in shells versus nuts without shells),  \ninfluence prey selection. Students should consider what food items they could use in their experiment (some could be field collected such as","cbCaiu7rVj0QM68J","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu7rVj0QM68J","pdf",167181,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Food and foraging preference factors\n## Cafeteria-style resource selection\n# Methods\n## Food types and experimental variables\n## Hypothesis development\n## Selecting seeds and nuts\n## Scheduling and implementing the lab\n# Experimental Design and Procedures\n## Planning setup, timing, observation, duration, and replicates","[{\"question\":\"What is the main goal of the Gray Squirrel field exercise?\",\"answer\":\"To examine Gray Squirrel feeding and foraging preferences by presenting different food types and measuring which resources they select.\"},{\"question\":\"How do students structure the experiment’s food presentation?\",\"answer\":\"Students use a cafeteria-style arrangement, offering several different food items in equal amounts so that prey selection can be assessed.\"},{\"question\":\"Which factors should students consider when choosing food types?\",\"answer\":\"Students consider item size (energy), food type (nuts, seeds, fruits, natural vs. novel), and ease of opening (nuts with shells vs. without shells).\"},{\"question\":\"What steps are involved in the scientific process within the lab?\",\"answer\":\"Students design the experimental approach, collect data during implementation, then analyze and interpret results to evaluate their chosen hypothesis.\"}]","Squirrel Foraging Preferences - Gone Nuts? - Lab Exercise | PDF",1792081084,{"code":4,"msg":80,"data":81},"ok",{"site_id":74,"language":73,"slug":82,"title":65,"keywords":83,"description":66,"schema_data":84,"social_meta":142,"head_meta":144,"extra_data":146,"updated_unix":147},"squirrel-foraging-preferences-gone-nuts-lab-exercise","",{"@graph":85,"@context":141},[86,100,120],{"@type":87,"itemListElement":88},"BreadcrumbList",[89,93,95,98],{"item":90,"name":91,"@type":92,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":94,"name":9,"@type":92,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":96,"name":40,"@type":92,"position":97},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":99,"name":65,"@type":92,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/squirrel-foraging-preferences-gone-nuts-lab-exercise/595408/",{"url":99,"name":65,"@type":101,"image":102,"author":107,"headline":65,"publisher":109,"fileFormat":112,"inLanguage":73,"description":66,"dateModified":113,"datePublished":114,"encodingFormat":112,"isAccessibleForFree":115,"interactionStatistic":116},"DigitalDocument",{"url":103,"@type":104,"width":105,"height":106},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/squirrel-foraging-preferences-gone-nuts-lab-exercise/595408.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":63,"@type":108},"Person",{"url":90,"name":110,"@type":111},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":117,"interactionType":118,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":119},"ViewAction",{"@type":121,"mainEntity":122},"FAQPage",[123,129,133,137],{"name":124,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":126},"What is the main goal of the Gray Squirrel field exercise?","Question",{"text":127,"@type":128},"To examine Gray Squirrel feeding and foraging preferences by presenting different food types and measuring which resources they select.","Answer",{"name":130,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":131},"How do students structure the experiment’s food presentation?",{"text":132,"@type":128},"Students use a cafeteria-style arrangement, offering several different food items in equal amounts so that prey selection can be assessed.",{"name":134,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":135},"Which factors should students consider when choosing food types?",{"text":136,"@type":128},"Students consider item size (energy), food type (nuts, seeds, fruits, natural vs. novel), and ease of opening (nuts with shells vs. without shells).",{"name":138,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":139},"What steps are involved in the scientific process within the lab?",{"text":140,"@type":128},"Students design the experimental approach, collect data during implementation, then analyze and interpret results to evaluate their chosen hypothesis.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":99,"og:type":143,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":110,"og:description":66},"article",{"robots":145,"canonical":99},"index,follow",{"doc_id":61,"site_id":74},1793103627]