Alice White
The story of the saber-toothed squirrel and the poor nut from the Ice Age is striking. No, it all looks a little crazy, but not so unreal. In fact, the nut obsession can be much more terrifying.
The California woodpeckers are competitors for the love of nuts among saber-toothed squirrels. In summer they behave like common woodpeckers. Insects are the main food source for birds. But with the onset of autumn, woodpeckers begin to stockpile.
A feature of this particular species of woodpeckers – Colaptes formicivorus – is their predilection for acorns. Birds choose a particular tree, which scientists call a granary, and begin to systematically cover it with hollowed holes. Acorns are pushed into these holes.
Woodpeckers are stocked up thoroughly. They do not spare acorns, each tree can be covered with more than 50 thousand cells for storing nuts. Conifers from afar seem to be covered with nailheads.
At the same time, the birds do not pick and choose, they do not care about the origin of the “barn”. Any large wooden object acts as a utility room – actually a tree, roofs, houses, supports, etc. Local electricians especially suffer from winged pests.
