Posted on 12/14/2008 10:54:49 PM PST by neverdem
(CNN) -- Up and down the East Coast, residents and naturalists alike have been scratching their heads this autumn over a simple question: Where are all the acorns?
Oak trees have shed their leaves, but the usual carpet of acorns is not crunching underfoot.
In far-flung pockets of northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other states, scientists have found no acorns whatsoever.
"I can't think of any other year like this," said Alonso Abugattas, director of the Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington, Virginia.
Louise Garris, who lives in the Oakcrest neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, first noticed the mysterious phenomenon early this fall when doing yardwork beneath a canopy of large oak trees.
"I have lived in the area my entire life and have never not seen any acorns!" she said. Garris checked with some local plant nurseries and they confirmed her observation.
The mystery has found its way to the Internet, where a "No acorns this year" discussion on Topix.com yielded more than 180 comments from people reporting acorn disappearances as far away as Connecticut and North Carolina.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?" posted a resident of Maplewood, New Jersey. "Now we are finding dead squirrels! SHOULD WE ALL BE CONCERNED?"
Not necessarily, naturalists say. Last year Garris reported a bumper crop of acorns, which scientists say may be one clue to this year's scarcity. Virginia extension agent Adam Downing...
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
At least where I live it’s likely that an ongoing drought has had an effect. We’re running 12 inches behind normal and it’s the third straight year of drought conditions.
There was a big 8 point buck eating acorns less than 20’ from my front door. I haven’t seen him since hunting season started.
Deer eat them, wild pigs, probably several other brands of critters. Good winter food crop for our foresty neighbors.
Another smuck killed my cat.
What was your cat doing running loose in the street. No leash laws?????
You should probably get that checked...
Scientists further baffled that the acorns don’t fall far from the tree! News at 11!
As far as I am aware they are eaten by wild animals, mostly squirrels and they are seeds to start new Oak Trees. I never new of anyone making a pie or jelly with them.
Blacktail deer in CA eat them in the winter. Indians used to eat them and the Northwest Indians of Washington and Oregon used to put them in a hole in the ground and then pee on them, everyone in the tribe(males only)would pee on them. Then the children would take them and suck on them after the pee had evaporated, I understand it was for the salt in them!
The other Indians who used them for food would grind them up and soak them in water, rinse, then repeat until most of the bitterness was gone and then make a batter out of them for a bread like substance. This was all taught to me long ago in grammar schools in Northern CA when they still actually taught things that were not PC.
Where’s the mystery?
The acorns were all out stuffing ballot boxes for The Evil One.
That is unnecessary, sadistic and cruel.
The twisted mind created that perverted “toy” makes me think of the old saying:
“Show me what makes you laugh and you’ve shown me who you are.”
They seem to leave my area when hunting season starts... then I start to see them again after it closes.
LLS
“bumper crop of Satsumas..”
WTH is that??
Our deer seem to start eating at night. We have security lighting all around our house. They graze like cattle at times.
Satsumas are similiar to kumquats.
A citrus fruit.
OK, thanks.
Not funny.
(Put some democrats in the slingshot and I might chuckle ..... a little.)
Acorn growth runs in cycles, so a lean year may be normal after last year’s big crop.
I don’t know about acorns here, but we are having a fabulous year for pecans, so our squirrels will be fat and sassy this winter. It’s a cycle some years are flush others lean. For some people, ie. global warming theorists, everything is now a crisis that points to doom and gloom, even natural cycles that have been around since the world began.
To hell with the acorns! This squirrel is cutting in... 
on my action!
No, it is my ex-wife from my Forbidden Planet days! She's the prima donna... 
that's efing nuts!
BTW HOW'S 'BOUT DEM COWBOYS!
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