It's autumn time. The leaves on the trees are starting to change colour. The leaves are also falling, and so are these chestnuts and acorns.
Autumn is a busy time for squirrels. They are gathering nuts and acorns.
Found one!
Squirrels need to hide food in the ground ready for winter when there's not much food around. When winter comes, there's no food on the trees, so they find their buried nuts in the ground. They use their amazing sense of smell to lead them to their winter stash of food.
Squirrels are very clever creatures. It's not just trees where they get their nuts from. Squirrels like to raid the nuts from bird feeders the people have put in their gardens.
Squirrels aren't just clever - they're fantastic climbers as well. They use their tiny feet to cling on and their bushy tail for balancing.
This cheeky squirrel knows another place to look for food.
Sometimes people like to make it tricky for the squirrels to steal the nuts from the bird feeders. The squirrels have a nutty problem to solve.
And just to show you how clever squirrels really are, here's a specially built squirrel puzzle for this smart squirrel to solve. First, it's up the pole. Then a big jump onto a spinning wheel. A tricky clamber across these chains. Through a tube. And along the spinning barrels. And then a huge leap and into this rocket, which she pushes along. Then a final big jump to her prize of yummy hazelnuts.
Squirrels really are clever animals, aren't they?
Video summary
A short video about the preparations squirrels make for the winter and their clever collection of nuts.
The clip includes a grey squirrel completing an assault course to retrieve some nuts.
This clip comes from the 成人论坛 series, Our Planet, Squirrels and Animals in the Snow.
Teacher Notes
This clip could provide a discussion point as to why animals store food up for winter.Pupils could design and make their own squirrel assault course or game.The clip could be used to provide a starting point to discuss which other animals store food for the winter and their hibernation.
This clip is relevant for teaching Science at KS1 in England and Wales, Foundation and KS1 in Northern Ireland, and early level and first level in Scotland.
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