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A hectare of trees is needed just to get one squirrel through the winter | blogjou

Ben Rawlence

The Treeline

pp. 34-35
15 Nov 2023

A hectare of trees is needed just to get one squirrel through the winter


A Scots pine seed looks a bit like the wing of an insect, with a hard seed case and a long papery wing acting like a sail to catch the breeze. The seed endosperm crop is an essential food source for crossbills, siskins, tits, woodpeckers and red squirrels. Red squirrels shred the scales to get at the seeds, eating up to 200 cones a day. A hectare of trees is needed just to get one squirrel through the winter. […] Rodents and insects love pine seeds so a forest must produce a seed crop larger than the appetites of the rest of the food chain if it wants its seedlings to stand a chance. This seems to be the reason behind synchronous mast years - when all the trees produce a spectacular crop of seed at the same time.