πΎAnimals
Squirrels Accidentally Plant Millions of Trees
Squirrels bury thousands of nuts each year as food stores for winter, but they forget where many are buried, leading to new tree growth.
About this fact
Squirrels are nature's accidental foresters. They engage in a behavior called 'scatter-hoarding,' where they bury nuts and seeds in many different locations to retrieve later. However, they have imperfect memories and forget the locations of a significant portion of these buried treasures. The forgotten nuts then have a chance to germinate and grow into new trees. It's estimated that millions of trees worldwide are planted each year thanks to forgetful squirrels.