the act of hiding one’s stores is not unique to these creatures but rather an instinctual behavior that serves as a means of survival in the face of uncertainty, where resources are scarce and predation is ever-present. from this perspective, it can be seen as a form of psychological preparation for the inevitable loss or failure that will inevitably occur before death claims us all. furthermore, considering their relatively short lifespan compared to other animals, squirrels may view storing nuts as an exercise in temporal hedging against mortality’s inevitability
the desperation of concealment is palpable among rodents, a primal urge driven by the certainty of predation and scarcity. it is not instinct alone that compels them to hide their stores, but rather an existential awareness of mortality’s crushing weight. squirrels’ frantic caching may be less about hoarding than about staving off the abyssal void that awaits us all