Posted on 12/21/2006 3:49:48 PM PST by blam
Squirrels accurately predict bumper harvests
19:00 21 December 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Roxanne Khamsi
Squirrels can somehow predict which years trees will produce massive amounts of seed, a new study reveals. The animals produce an extra litter of pups months ahead of these unusually large harvests, researchers report.
The scientists analysed 16 years of data on American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) populations in Yukon, Canada.
As part of the experiment, Andrew McAdam of Michigan State University and his colleagues lured the animals into traps with peanut butter and then tagged them. The team periodically recaptured the squirrels and assessed whether the females were pregnant or not.
They also recorded the amount of cones produced by spruce trees in the area. The edible seed inside these cones is the red squirrels' primary food.
The number of cones produced by the spruce trees in autumn varies widely from year to year. A single spruce tree might produce 10 cones one year, but more than 500 the next. By producing very few cones some years, the trees starve their seed predators, giving themselves an evolutionary advantage.
But McAdams and his teammates noticed a curious trend: While squirrels typically mate in January and give birth to their pups from March, they would also produce a second litter in the spring ahead of a bumper cone harvest.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
This is just nuts!
The rodent with a nuts flush.....
Meadow Muffin
"The animals produce an extra litter of pups months ahead of these unusually large harvests"
http://www.squirrels.org/faq.html#Q22
"They are called babies or infants while in the nest. Then for their first year they're referred to as Juveniles. After their first year, they become adults and are simply called squirrels."
I've never heard them called "pups"
Yep, nuts.
Around here, squirrels just drive my dogs nuts!
I've never seen dog nuts with steering wheels.
Simple, they have better polling service than RATs.
The animals might also notice more of these cone buds in the spring ahead of the harvest and have an extra litter based on this visual cue.Gee, ya think?? So much for these squirrels' "predictions".
No, it's squirrelly.
Ya know what the Squirrel said when he ran up a womans leg?
"No nuts, no limbs, its gonna be a long cold hard winter."
mmmmm, Squirrel dumplins mmmmmm.
Rather than "detecting" the hormone, perhaps a plant hormone present in the cone buds in greater concentration before a bumper harvest actually increases the reproductive fertility of the squirrels when ingested.
That's my wild theory and I'm sticking to it. Don't try to dissuade me with facts and data. :-)
Another nail in the lifeless corpse of evolutionism.
Baby squirrels? Huh. I usually hold them by the tip of their tails and swung them around like a Kreskin Crystal.
APf
They actually harvest bumpers?
I guess squirrels are losers in the annual competition for the Darwin Award? :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.