Hoarding didn’t originate with humans. Long before our population began stockpiling an almost unimaginable array of items, animals evolved similar behaviors, though possibly for different reasons.

Across the animal kingdom, hoarding has evolved as a survival strategy, shaped by the pressures of natural selection. From birds and rodents to insects and even marine creatures, excessive accumulation reflects some degree of sophistication.

Different Kinds of Hoarding

Scientists distinguish between two primary forms of animal hoarding: larder hoarding (storing everything in one central place) and scatter hoarding (dispersing caches across multiple sites). These approaches require different cognitive skills. Larder hoarding relies on guarding a single, often conspicuous location, while scatter hoarding demands keen spatial memory and an internal mapping system.

Rodents: Masters of Memory and Stash

Among the most familiar hoarders are rodents, particularly squirrels, mice, and voles. One example is the gray squirrel, which frantically gathers acorns and nuts in the autumn as it prepares for winter. They bury the acorns in individual caches in shallow holes—scatter hoarding. Later, these same squirrels employ visual landmarks and scent cues to retrieve them months later. Gray squirrels remember the locations of up to 80 percent of their caches. Their hippocampus, the brain region associated with memory and navigation, expands during the caching season and shrinks once the task is completed. This reminds me of London cab drivers whose hippocampus is enlarged due to the........

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