As we all know, squirrels are clever and sociable little critters. They can figure out how to access your bird feeder or abscond with your food right from under your nose, as well as bury food for later.
If social animals have death rituals, could it also mean squirrels bury their dead animals?
While it makes sense for squirrels to bury their dead, they don’t. Unlike chimpanzees and elephants, which are the only two animals known to have buried their dead, squirrels just leave their dead squirrels.
This is not to say dead squirrels have not been buried, they just have not been buried by a squirrel.
What Do Squirrels Do With Their Dead?
You would think that with squirrels already displaying burying habits and being incredibly social animals they would do something with their dead and that is not the case. In fact, squirrels leave their dead alone.
And, when a squirrel dies outside of its nest there is a pretty good chance that an animal, bird or insect is taking care of those remains.
If a squirrel dies inside of it’s nest, it stays inside of the nest and just decomposes like normal.
Squirrels don’t really seem to care too much about touching their now-dead ancestor either. In fact, it actually serves as insulation inside of the nest making it slightly cozier.
Do Squirrels Eat Their Dead?
Squirrels tend to be omnivores and they will consume a fellow squirrel’s remains.
Yes, that’s right; this barely recalled, adorable little creature with bright eyes and a fluffy tail will anything necessary to live as prey– and they are omnivores, which means they will eat whatever they can scavenge on.
In fact, eating another fellow squirrel ensures that larger animals will not come around to do the same.
So while eating fellow squirrel remains may not be appetizing, it does keep larger predators away, and therefore, actually does provide a safer haven for the squirrel.
Therefore, when it comes to squirrels— full stomach and safe haven, both are like gold for a squirrel!
Though I am sure if you were worried about being a cannibal, I should mention that squirrels will only eat fellow squirrels if a fresh bug, insect, or nut isn’t available.
Squirrels just do not commonly exhibit cannibalistic characteristics.
Do Squirrels Bury Anything?
Squirrels are widely understood to bury food evidence. So much so, we’ve coined the phase “squirreling away” to mean a person has placed something of importance somewhere in secret for later use.
Squirrels will bury food ranging from acorns, pecans, seeds, nuts, and berries. It’s not uncommon for squirrels to scurry back to their stockpiles in the cold months, as opposed to looking for new food.
Squirrels also squirrel away food to keep other animals from finding it. Burying food means other animals have more difficulty locating it when they cover the food smell.
In true squirrel fashion, they sometimes forget where they hid some of their food eatery. The fact is, assuming their memory is good, a squirrel averages forgetting only 10% of their food eatery, which is actually a better average than I have probably gone through the same amount of time!
Do Any Animals Bury Their Dead?
Some animals actually bury their dead! With the exception of ants and termites, if we consider those actions, the only animals that have been documented to actually “bury”, or place deceased animals under leaves, are chimpanzees, elephants, and magpies.
Interestingly, all of these animals are regarded as intelligent, and have some level of complex emotions.
These burial processes are not exactly like burial we do as humans. Animals don’t typically bury their dead into the earth, but rather, under branches, leaves, or other objects they can use to cover the body.
Ants and termites do technically bury their dead, but they do this in their tunnels as a method to “take out the trash”. When a chamber of dead ants or termites is full they will simply destroy the tunnel leading away from the chamber, essentially mass burying those living creatures.
While a few dogs have been observed to “bury” their deceased dogs in this sense, they do not exactly meet the same reasoning animals like chimpanzees, elephants, or magpies do. It is believed these species are just trying to follow instincts to bury food for later use, instead of performing grief behaviors for their deceased companions.
Have Squirrels Been Found Buried?
Squirrels may not bury dead squirrels but you may come upon one in your garden from another animal that did bury it.
Cats and foxes will bury a squirrel or a bird or even a mouse for later. Cats and foxes are both relatively small predators and prey to larger animals.
By burying dead squirrels, they are saving food for later, but they are also preventing larger predators from coming into the area.
What To Do If You Find a Buried Squirrel
If you discover a recently buried dead squirrel, you have a couple of choices: either leaving it there, or proceeding with removal.
Both options have merits, but here’s when you will leave a buried squirrel:
- If you want to keep it in your garden for fertilization.
- you don’t have children or pets that may dig it up when playing in your yard.
- If you live in an area where large predators would not scavenge the carcass.
You will remove the dead squirrel using gloves and a shovel if:
- you live in a rural area that is likely to attract the attention of predators such as coyotes, cougars or bears,
- If you have children or pets that play in your backyard, or
If the mound creates a blighted area or makes the ground uneven or unsightly.
Final Thoughts
Therefore, squirrels do not actually bury their dead. In fact, squirrels do nothing at all with their dead. In nature, dead squirrels are quickly taken care of, and squirrels don’t have to do anything.
There are, however, animals like foxes and cats that will bury squirrels to eat them later. If you ever find a squirrel tucked away under the mulch in your garden, you’ve just discovered their midnight snack!