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No, this isn't an article written for (or by) squirrels – humans can actually eat acorns under certain circumstances. The nuts stem from oak trees, and can actually elicit a mild, nutty flavor.
Insects, squirrels, deer, turkey, small rodents, and birds consume many acorns. They can eat or damage a high percentage of the acorn crop in most years and essentially all of it in poor seed years. Black oak acorns from a single tree are dispersed over a limited area by squirrels, mice, and gravity. The blue jay may disperse over longer distances.
Grains can be consumed in a variety of ways, all of which require husking and cooking, including whole, rolled, puffed, or ground into flour. Many cereals are present or past staple foods, providing a large fraction of the calories in the places in which they are eaten. Today, cereals provide almost half of all calories consumed in the world. [3]
The acorns and leaves contain tannic acid, [5] which helps to guard against fungi and insects. [6] There are some 500 extant species of oaks. [7] Trees in the genus are often large and slow-growing; Q. alba can reach an age of 600 years, a diameter of 13 feet (4.0 m) and a height of 145 feet (44 m). [8]
Knocking down acorn to feed pigs. 1300s England. Mast is the fruit of forest trees and shrubs, such as acorns and other nuts. [1] The term derives from the Old English mæst, meaning the nuts of forest trees that have accumulated on the ground, especially those used historically for fattening domestic pigs, and as food resources for wildlife.
The flowers are catkins, maturing in about 6–7 months into acorns 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) long and 2–4 cm (3 ⁄ 4 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) broad. [3] Acorns are most often distributed by water due to their buoyancy and preferred habitat. Acorns germinate best in moist soils and when covered with leaf litter. [8]
Acorns that germinated in the fall were shelled and pulverized before those germinating in spring. [citation needed] Because of their high fat content, stored acorns can become rancid. Moulds may also grow on them. The lighting of ground fires killed the larvae of acorn moths and acorn weevils by burning them during their dormancy period in the ...
Wolves urinate on food caches after emptying them. [3]Caching behavior is typically a way to save excess edible food for later consumption—either soon to be eaten food, such as when a jaguar hangs partially eaten prey from a tree to be eaten within a few days, or long term, where the food is hidden and retrieved many months later.