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Posted:
October 10, 2012
Cone skeletons
By Larry Halverson/Friends of Kootenay
This time of year red squirrels are busy cutting coniferous cones to store and eat. It doesn’t take them long to strip the cone bracts and extract the numerous seeds from each cone with their teeth. The squirrel pictured above finished off a cone (about 50 seeds) in less than two minutes. Studies have shown red squirrels can consume up to 145 cones per day.
Top image: Red Squirrel striping a Spruce Cone and eating the seeds – Photos by Larry Halverson
