Kelly Blokland, age 12, of Louisville, Neb., for her question:

HOW DOES A SQUIRREL FIND ALL THE NUTS HE BURIES?

Pity the poor city dweller who has never walked through the autumn woods with the fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet and the scoldings of a tree squirrel in his ears. Even during the long winter months a walk in the woods will bring the familiar "chirr, chirr, chirr," letting us know that we have passed too close to his tree.

Members of the rodent family, squirrels of countless varieties are found in most parts of the world. And possibly the gray squirrel of North America is our best known wild mammal. The word "squirrel" comes from two Greek words that mean shadow or shade tail. Their 7 12 inch tail is very important to them, and they spend a great deal of time grooming it. However, don't get the mistaken idea that this is vanity on the squirrel's part. His bushy adornment is a vital necessity, and its purpose is to help maintain and correct his balance during his breathtaking leaps from bough to bough in his forest home.

The tree squirrels are generally active by day, spending their nights sleeping in their snug burrows. They are, by habit, hoarders of nuts, fruits, seeds and other types of vegetable foods. Squirrels do not usually store nuts for the long winter in one large cache  they bury them haphazardly throughout their area of the forest. Naturalists estimate that a hardworking gray squirrel will bury five nuts every 3 1/2 minutes. During the three month season that leads up to winter, as many as 10,000 nuts could be stashed away.

How the squirrel finds his hidden caches of nuts during the winter has always been a source of wonder. The answer, quite simply, is that he doesn't. Many people who study squirrels believe that his superior sense of smell is vital in finding hidden stores of food. Other naturalists feel that the squirrel, being a very intelligent animal, buries his winter food stores in the most likely places. Then, during the winter when the snow is deep, he goes to the most likely places and digs.

Andy certainly would not want a squirrel to go hungry during the winter, but he is quietly happy that all the stored nuts are not found. For hickory, butternut and walnuts will not sprout unless planted underground.  And who else but the energetic squirrel could possibly be responsible for many of our wild nut groves?

In areas with mild winters squirrels may breed twice a year, in early spring and again in late summer. The mother may carry the young in her body for 36 to 45 days. Usually from two to seven blind and hairless babies are born. They stay with their mother for eight weeks or so and then begin searching for their own food.