Skip to content
Grow In Backyard
Squirrels & Wildlife

Do Squirrels Have Taste Buds? Yes, and They Use Them

Squirrels taste bitter, sweet, salty and sour, and reject tannin-heavy acorns on that basis. Why capsaicin works on them and not on birds.

By Zakaria 2 min read Save to Pinterest — opens Pinterest in a new tab
A red squirrel sitting upright on a path, eating a strawberry held in its front paws
Photo: LTapsaH, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay
On this page

Squirrels taste the full mammalian range, and one of those tastes — bitterness — decides which acorns get eaten and which get planted.

The acorn decision

acorntanningerminatessquirrel does
White oaklowautumn, quicklyeats it now
Red oakhigh, bitterspringburies it

A cached white oak acorn would sprout and be lost within weeks. The squirrel resolves that by taste, and the side effect is that red oaks get planted across the woodland.

Why capsaicin is the one repellent that works

mammalsbirds
TRPV1 receptor for capsaicinyesno
Response to treated seedavoidancenone
Feeds normallynoyes

Wear gloves when filling with treated seed

It works on you too. Keep the dust away from your face and eyes, and wash hands afterwards — the part of the instructions people skip until the first time they rub an eye.

Selectivity at a feeder

Given a mixed seed, a squirrel works down the energy list:

  1. Peanuts and sunflower — highest fat, taken first
  2. Maize — taken, lower value
  3. Milo, wheat, oats — largely rejected

That is why cheap mixes empty unevenly and leave a layer of filler under the feeder. Buying straight sunflower or sunflower hearts costs more per kilo and less per kilo actually eaten.

Salt-seeking is not permission to feed salted food

Squirrels gnaw salt-treated timber and mineral blocks because sodium is scarce in their diet. The quantity in a salted peanut is a different order of magnitude, and they cannot process it. Unsalted, always.

Common questions

Do squirrels have taste buds?

Yes. Like other mammals they have taste buds on the tongue and soft palate and detect the standard range — bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami. Taste works alongside a very good sense of smell, and together these drive the food decisions squirrels are constantly making: what to eat now, what to bury, and what to reject entirely.

Can they taste spicy food?

They respond to capsaicin strongly, which is the basis of the one genuinely effective squirrel repellent on the market. Mammals carry the TRPV1 receptor that capsaicin activates, producing a burning sensation; birds do not, so they feed on treated seed with no reaction at all. That split is why capsaicin-treated birdseed works — it is selective by biology rather than by mechanism.

Why do squirrels bury some acorns and eat others?

Taste, specifically tannin content. White oak acorns are low in tannin, germinate quickly in autumn and are therefore eaten immediately; red oak acorns are high in tannin, bitter, and stay dormant until spring, so they are the ones cached. The squirrel is reading bitterness and making a storage decision from it — a neat example of taste driving behaviour with ecological consequences.

Do they detect bad or mouldy food?

Often, and it matters. Squirrels reject nuts that have gone rancid or mouldy, which protects them from aflatoxins produced by moulds on damp stored nuts and corn. They also assess nuts by weight and handling before caching, preferentially burying sound ones. It is not infallible, and aflatoxin poisoning does occur where damp peanuts or corn are put out in quantity.

Can squirrels taste salt?

Yes, and they actively seek it. Squirrels gnaw at salt-treated road timber, mineral blocks and even sweat-stained tool handles, because sodium is scarce in a diet of nuts and vegetation. That is a separate matter from salted human foods, which deliver a sodium load far beyond anything they can process — one reason salted nuts are on the do-not-feed list.

Does taste make them fussy at a feeder?

It makes them selective rather than fussy. Given a mixed seed, a squirrel takes the highest-fat items first — sunflower, peanuts — and leaves milo and wheat. That is an energy calculation informed by taste and experience, and it is why a cheap mix empties unevenly and leaves a layer of rejected filler underneath.

Backyard Weekly

Know what to plant, week by week

Join the weekly email for seasonal jobs, fixes for what is going wrong, and gear worth buying.

Not ready to subscribe? The planting calendar is free and needs no email.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. Grow In Backyard will never sell your address.

Keep reading