How do squirrels remember where they put their nuts?

Dodging gray squirrels as they bolt across streets can make fall driving feel like a weird twist on the game “Frogger,” but they’re busy scatter-hoarding. Scientists are studying whether squirrel brains have to upsize in the fall to remember all the hiding places, ensuring they have enough to eat for the winter.

The Jacobs Lab of Cognitive Biology at the University of California-Berkeley studies how squirrels collect, categorize, bury and strategically stash tree nuts to keep their winter wealth of nutrients safe. It may require a relocation, too, if a particular cache seems threatened. The scientists hypothesize that squirrels rely on an expanded spatial memory, something other scatter-hoarding creatures, such as chipmunks and chickadees, need to survive the winter.

Lingering crabapples and berries add dots of color to the November landscape. Watch the ground in northern Minnesota, especially in areas favored by conifers and thick mosses, and you also might spot the red berries and leathery leaves of American wintergreen. Also known as teaberry or checkerberry, the aromatic oil in its leaves flavor teas, candy (including old-school Pepto-pink lozenges and Clark’s teaberry gum), and have been used as medicine. The berries and leaves contain methyl salicylate, a compound related to aspirin.

Lisa Meyers McClintick of St. Cloud has freelanced for the Minnesota Star Tribune since 2001 and volunteers as a Minnesota Master Naturalist.