Kind of like a squirrel, but not really (I mean, look at those elegant legs — nothing like our eastern greys). These guys are known as Central America’s gardeners because of their habit of burying nuts and seeds and then forgetting where they put them, inadvertently growing trees and other plants. I photographed this one many years ago on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 250, f/3.2 at 1/10th of a second.
How interesting. Our eastern gray squirrels remember 80% of the locations where they bury the nuts in the ground. I can attest to that as I leave them peanuts in the shell in the winter and I have little brown holes in my lawn. After winter has passed and the ground has thawed, I’ve witnessed when they find them in the spring. You can tell when they’re going to bury them because instead of eating them immediately, they hold the shell vertically and make a small incision on the top. That prevents the peanut from getting moldy while in storage. Maybe our squirrels have better memories but the ‘gardners’ behavior seem to be more ecologically savvy.
With their longer, skinnier legs, Agoutis promote an unrealistic body image to teenage squirrels. I’m not trying to Agouti shame here, but it’s a problem we need to address.
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Kind of like a squirrel, but not really (I mean, look at those elegant legs — nothing like our eastern greys). These guys are known as Central America’s gardeners because of their habit of burying nuts and seeds and then forgetting where they put them, inadvertently growing trees and other plants. I photographed this one many years ago on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 250, f/3.2 at 1/10th of a second.
How interesting. Our eastern gray squirrels remember 80% of the locations where they bury the nuts in the ground. I can attest to that as I leave them peanuts in the shell in the winter and I have little brown holes in my lawn. After winter has passed and the ground has thawed, I’ve witnessed when they find them in the spring. You can tell when they’re going to bury them because instead of eating them immediately, they hold the shell vertically and make a small incision on the top. That prevents the peanut from getting moldy while in storage. Maybe our squirrels have better memories but the ‘gardners’ behavior seem to be more ecologically savvy.
My camera trap has really been revealing the nut habits of my own local squirrels. I haven’t posted many but I’m getting almost daily shots of them.
With their longer, skinnier legs, Agoutis promote an unrealistic body image to teenage squirrels. I’m not trying to Agouti shame here, but it’s a problem we need to address.
No doubt Louis. Agouti love is needed in the world now more than ever.