Japanese Squirrel Ignores the Acorns of Chinese Evergreen Oak at the Feeder Site Somehow

A Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis, family Sciuridae) climbing up and down an oblique fallen tree at the edge of the mountain forest as a lookout. To my chagrin, however, the squirrel was so cautious or preoccupied that it didn’t visit the unfamiliar feeder box full of acorns of bamboo-leaf oak (aka Chinese evergreen oak and Chinese ring-cupped oak; Quercus myrsinifolia, family Fagaceae). Instead, the squirrel seemed to dig under the leaf litter beside the fallen tree to retrieve a cached food item (presumably a walnut). Replayed at 150% digital zoom-in (1:32-). Maybe the Japanese squirrels don’t like the acorns of Quercus myrsinifolia, which is known to contain high doses of toxic and distasteful tannin. Captured with my old trailcam in the sunny midmorning (around 9:40 AM) of late-November 2024 in Japan. For a full story (text in Japanese); https://sigma-nature-vlog.blogspot.com/2026/02/blog-post_70.html