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    NIE CT Nature Oct 2019 Preliminary

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    Hartford Courant
    Acorns are the seeds of oak trees and an important food source for many wildlife species in Connecticut. Different types of oak trees produce unique acorns, with white oak acorns being the most popular among animals due to their lower tannin content. Animals such as squirrels, deer, and blue jays eat and store acorns, helping to spread oak trees. Acorns are also an important food for insects like acorn weevils, whose larvae develop inside acorns before emerging as adults. The structure of acorns provides both protection for the developing seed inside and nutrition for wildlife.

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    NIE CT Nature Oct 2019 Preliminary

    Uploaded by

    Hartford Courant
    61 views1 page
    Acorns are the seeds of oak trees and an important food source for many wildlife species in Connecticut. Different types of oak trees produce unique acorns, with white oak acorns being the most popular among animals due to their lower tannin content. Animals such as squirrels, deer, and blue jays eat and store acorns, helping to spread oak trees. Acorns are also an important food for insects like acorn weevils, whose larvae develop inside acorns before emerging as adults. The structure of acorns provides both protection for the developing seed inside and nutrition for wildlife.

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    NIE CT Nature Oct 2019 Preliminary

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    Acorns are the seeds of oak trees and an important food source for many wildlife species in Connecticut. Different types of oak trees produce unique acorns, with white oak acorns being the most popular among animals due to their lower tannin content. Animals such as squirrels, deer, and blue jays eat and store acorns, helping to spread oak trees. Acorns are also an important food for insects like acorn weevils, whose larvae develop inside acorns before emerging as adults. The structure of acorns provides both protection for the developing seed inside and nutrition for wildlife.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    61 views1 page

    NIE CT Nature Oct 2019 Preliminary

    Uploaded by

    Hartford Courant
    Acorns are the seeds of oak trees and an important food source for many wildlife species in Connecticut. Different types of oak trees produce unique acorns, with white oak acorns being the most popular among animals due to their lower tannin content. Animals such as squirrels, deer, and blue jays eat and store acorns, helping to spread oak trees. Acorns are also an important food for insects like acorn weevils, whose larvae develop inside acorns before emerging as adults. The structure of acorns provides both protection for the developing seed inside and nutrition for wildlife.

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    INCREDIBLE

    Connecticut Nature

    ACORNS dpnc.org 109 Pequotsepos Road • Mystic, CT 06355

    Many people don’t know that acorns are the seeds from an oak tree. Connecticut is home to many different types of oak trees, including red, black, white
    and chestnut. Each type of oak tree produces a unique acorn that falls to the ground in autumn and each one has the potential to grow into a new tree.
    However, acorns are much more than just average seeds. They are one of the most important sources of food to wildlife in Connecticut.

    Squirrels, deer, turkey, foxes, blue jays, bears, raccoons, chipmunks and mice are a few of the animals
    who eat acorns. Like people, animals prefer particular types of acorns, and the most popular acorn for
    wildlife comes from the white oak tree. Acorns contain tannic acid, which causes a bitter taste. White
    acorns contain less and therefore are the most sought after. While some animals eat the acorns they
    find right away, other animals will store them for the winter. Gray squirrels bury their acorns and other
    nuts in a variety of locations, but have a system for remembering their locations. Squirrels work so hard
    at remembering where they have stored their acorns that their brains actually grow bigger during prime
    nut-hoarding season. Red squirrels bury all their nuts in one place, called a cache, and will defend the
    area from other animals. Blue Jays also collect and store acorns for eating later. Blue Jays have an
    expandable throat pouch where they carry the acorns to hiding locations. Squirrels and blue jays plant so
    many acorns that they play an important role in the continuation of our oak forests.

    Acorns are also eaten by insects. One of the most fascinating of these is the acorn weevil. The mother weevil lays eggs in the developing acorn where the
    babies (larvae) hatch. The larvae eat the acorn and when the acorn falls to the ground in autumn, they chew tiny holes to crawl out of. From there the larvae
    go underground where they live for several
    years before pupating and emerging as adults
    who climb the oak trees to lay eggs. Animals
    know which acorns have been weeviled and
    will leave them in favor of the good ones.

    Look at the diagram of the acorn. The outside


    of the acorn is made up of four parts. What
    is often called the cap of an acorn is made
    up of the stem, where the acorn was attached
    to the branch and the cupule which holds the
    seed. The hard pericap protects the seed. At
    the base of the acorn is remains of the style,
    which was originally part of the oak tree’s flower. On the inside of the acorn is the seed coat which provides another layer of protection for the seed. There
    is also the beginnings of the oak tree, the radicle which will develop into the root and the plumule which will become the stem. The cotyledon provides food
    to the sprouting oak tree and is the part of acorn that is nutritious to wildlife.

    The number of acorns varies from year to year. When an oak tree produces many more acorns than usual it is called a mast year. When there are a lot of
    acorns, there’s a better chance of acorns being left by the animals, allowing the next generation of oak trees to sprout in the spring. Acorns are amazing!

    Acorn Hunt!
    Try It! Go on an acorn hunt in
    your neighborhood!

    Can you find?


    • Acorns that have been weeviled?
    • Different shaped acorns?
    • The shells of acorns where animals CCSS.ELA.Reading:
    have been eating them Informational Text: 3-5.2, 3-5.3, 3-5.8

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