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The objective of this study was to evaluate how northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys生活日记网(www．Examw。com)

sabrinus) locate truffles (Gautieria monticola), a subterranean and ephemeral but primary food

source. Thus, we evaluated the importance of three factors to the foraging behavior of

northern flying squirrels: (i) olfactory chemicals that emanate from truffles; (ii) the presence of

coarse woody debris (decaying logs), which are often associated with fungi; and (iii) we

explored the potential role animal memory could play in truffle detection as well. In a foraging

arena, squirrels successfully retrieved buried truffles that lacked aboveground cues in 19 of 30

trials and failed to search near treatments that lacked truffles altogether, confirming the

importance of olfaction to squirrel foraging. However, squirrels also retrieved truffles that were

associated most frequently with surface logs (27 of 30). In addition, the initial detection rate of

the truffle log treatment was significantly greater than the truffle-only treatment. Thus,

although squirrels search for truffles primarily using olfaction, they may also benefit by

searching near coarse woody debris on the forest floor as an aboveground cue to truffle

locations. In addition, because 82% of Sierra Nevada truffle-fruiting locations that were marked

in 1996 yielded truffles again the following 2 years, mycophagous animals like northern flying

squirrels may benefit by memorizing fruiting locations and foraging at these same locations

from year to year.