The acorn woodpecker is the only bird that can eat chestnuts and acorns. These birds hide the seeds in the cracks of tree bark. Squirrels will raid the bird's hiding spots and in turn hide the seeds on the ground. Most of the seeds are eventually eaten but a few grow into large chestnut and oak trees.
Oh give me a home...
Oh give me a home... The shooting of bison straying from Yellowstone
National Park, USA, has conservationists concerned that the genetic
diversity in Yellowstone's wild bison could be lost. A federal
court has upheld the right of officials from the park to shoot
bison outside of park boundaries in an effort to prevent the spread
of ‘brucellosis’, a dangerous disease, to cattle.
Severe weather in the winter of 1996 - 1997 forced many bison to
forage outside of the park. There, 1,000 out of a herd of 3,500
were shot. Opponents to the culling cite a report published in 1998
by the National Academy of Sciences. In the report, researchers
concluded that although transmission of disease from bison to
cattle was possible, the bison could not definitely be blamed for
the cases of brucellosis reported in that year. Federal and state
agencies now need to collaborate on the fate of the Yellowstone
bison. 12 JUNE 1999, P. 18-19
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