Undeniable Fact: A Nutty Tail
Monday, October 09, 2006
Ever wonder why squirrels have those bushy tails? Oddly enough, those tails are specially designed to carry pollen to the oak tree. In early spring the squirrels, knowing that the coming acorn harvest depends on it, climb from oak tree to oak tree, carefully gathering and depositing pollen as they go. Squirrels who refuse to carry out this important ritual are often attacked and sometimes eaten by other squirrels.
3 Comments:
Living in northwest New Jersey, we have lots of oak trees. I've seen squirrels throw other squirrels right out of the tree for just such a crime. After falling for over 100 feet, they are pounded out like a piece of chicken parmasian.
I wonder if I should leave pieces of parmasian cheese out for them instead of walnuts. They already have lots of acorns and squirrel jerky stashed away.
The punishing should not be seen as a punishment. The Pollen actually covers a lot of the pheromones. Failing to cover up the pheromones will result in a lot of hostile encounters. It's mostly the males who carry around the pollen, but females have been spotted with the same behaviour.
What can I say, It's true, I have many times encoutered gangs of squirrels near my house, they did grafitti on the wall and executed the treasoning squirrels!
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