Investigating eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) feeding behaviors in open and shaded habitats in the presence of a red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) feeding behavior often varies in different surroundings. Moreover, predation decreases gray squirrel foraging activity and influences the types of areas in which they choose to forage. We examined whether shaded areas help gray squirrels hide from predators, allowing them to eat more food as opposed to being in open areas. Our hypothesis stated that in the presence of predator urine, squirrels will eat more nuts in shaded areas as opposed to open areas. The experiment was conducted in four sites: two shaded and two open. There were two controlled sites (one open and one shaded area without red fox urine) and two experimental sites (one open and one shaded area with red fox urine). Using the Twoway ANOVA with a critical p-value of 0.05, our results show that in the absence of predators, there was no significant difference in number of nuts eaten by squirrels in both open and shaded areas. However in the presence of predators, squirrels ate significantly more nuts in the open area than in the shaded. This suggests that gray squirrel feeding activity is higher in open areas than in shaded areas in the presence of predators. Our hypothesis is therefore rejected.