How significant can the weight of acorns and nuts amassed by a woodrat family in September be?
Answer
Nearly half of the adult’s body mass
The intensity of the woodrat's preparatory caching routine in early fall is substantial, particularly concerning high-value foods like acorns and nuts. A local study demonstrated that a single woodrat family could gather several pounds of these hard mast items over just a few weeks in September. To illustrate the sheer volume of this preparation, the total weight of this accumulated food hoard was found to be equivalent to nearly fifty percent of an average adult woodrat’s body mass. This finding underscores that the success of surviving the subsequent cold months is heavily determined by the diligence exercised during this concentrated autumn feeding effort.
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