If I give you a list of things to remember, how many things on that list will you be able to recall 3 months from now? 10? 30? 100? 500? Pfft! Step aside, amateur. The Clark's Nutcracker has you beat. This bird stashes thousands of seeds per year, and studies have shown that the birds can remember the locations of almost every seed. Some birds have been observed burying over 30,000 seeds over a range of almost 2 miles, and they have been able to recall almost all of the locations 9 months later.
So maybe you can't compete with the Clark's in a memory test, but how about a physical test? I'll make this easy for you. How many pine nuts can you carry underneath your tongue at one time? 10? 20? 50? Bzzt! Sorry, you lose again! The Clark's can carry up to 90 pine seeds in a special pouch behind its tongue. Yes, I know pine nuts are bigger than pine seeds, but your mouth is much bigger than the bird's mouth!
Today just wasn't your day, but losing to a Clark's is nothing to be ashamed of. This bird is a superhero; it has an entire species depending on it! The whitebark pine is almost entirely dependent on the Clark's for dispersing its seeds, and the bird is able to do this because of its beak. When Captain William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame, and after whom the bird is named) first described the bird, he assumed it was a woodpecker because of its long, sharp beak. However, that beak is specifically designed for picking out the seeds of pines, and its mouth is specially designed as a carrying case for the cache of seeds. This superstar Sunday Squee is a real life Lorax saving the trees one mouthful at a time.
Have a Sunday that's fit for a superstar, everyone!
So maybe you can't compete with the Clark's in a memory test, but how about a physical test? I'll make this easy for you. How many pine nuts can you carry underneath your tongue at one time? 10? 20? 50? Bzzt! Sorry, you lose again! The Clark's can carry up to 90 pine seeds in a special pouch behind its tongue. Yes, I know pine nuts are bigger than pine seeds, but your mouth is much bigger than the bird's mouth!
Today just wasn't your day, but losing to a Clark's is nothing to be ashamed of. This bird is a superhero; it has an entire species depending on it! The whitebark pine is almost entirely dependent on the Clark's for dispersing its seeds, and the bird is able to do this because of its beak. When Captain William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame, and after whom the bird is named) first described the bird, he assumed it was a woodpecker because of its long, sharp beak. However, that beak is specifically designed for picking out the seeds of pines, and its mouth is specially designed as a carrying case for the cache of seeds. This superstar Sunday Squee is a real life Lorax saving the trees one mouthful at a time.
Have a Sunday that's fit for a superstar, everyone!
