Scatter-hoarding squirrels are highly sensitive to the germination schedule of acorns and stop germination by removing the embryo of nondormant acorns to prevent losses of energy and nutrients that occurs during rapid germination.These "embryo-removed" acorns are then scatter hoarded.Recently,we have identified that three squirrel species (Callosciurus erythraeus,Sciurotamias davidianus,Dremomys rufigenis) in China display this behavior of embryo removal from nondormant acorns from white oaks (subgenus Quercus) .In this talk,we present data to illustrate the potential mechanisms that scatter-hoarding squirrels respond to in relation to the germination schedule and other co-varying traits (i.e.seed size,tannin,mast seeding) of acorns.Our results indicate that embryo-removal from nondormant acorns by scatter-hoarding squirrels may be an evolutionarily conserved or convergent trait in the squirrel family since this adaptive behavior can remain unchanged even when white oaks are extinct in their habitats.