Diane Clarke, age 16, of Pte. Claire, Quebec, Canada, for her question:

DOES A SQUIRREL REMEMBER WHERE HE HIDES NUTS?

There is no evidence to suggest that the squirrel remembers just where he hid his caches of nuts for the winter. In fact, there is quite a bit of evidence to suggest that he forgets and does the whole thing by guesswork. For one thing, they are hidden away during the fall, when the trees are still leafy and the ground is grassy. When time comes to dig them up, the whole neighborhood may be blanketed below several feet of snow  and one place looks much like another.

Nevertheless, when he comes out for a snack on a wintry day, the frisky squirrel is almost sure to dig down and find a pantry. There may be more than one reason for his success. In the fall, he hides so many caches in so many likely places that he is almost sure to find one of them. What's more, where there is one hoarding squirrel there are bound to be dozens more. Possibly the lucky spot he finds today may have been filled by one of his relative