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Index of Subjects Hi David, I'm not sure what chewed into the pits. When I find pits like that stored and all sorted to one species I suspect one of the mice of the genus Peromyscus. We have both P. maniculatus, the deer mouse and P. leucopus, the white-footed mouse (a more southerly species but still found in western mainland NS to Truro and a bit east of there0. Those little guys like to sort their food and store it, so you tend to find piles of all one type of seed or pit. They are active all winter and of course the stored food stockpiles help them make it through when seeds would be difficult to find. I've never seen how they chew their food items. Pete Hope ----- Original Message ----- From: "David & Alison Webster" <dwebster@glinx.com> To: <NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca> Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 7:14 PM Subject: [NatureNS] Cherry pits > Dear All, Dec 16, 2006 > For some time I have been seeing cherry pits in the woodpile with a > hole chewed in one end. These pits are from the _Prunus avium_ seedling on > the lawn. So I got around to looking at two of these. > > An intact cherry pit has a pointed distal end and is somewhat > flattened. Size of course varies but the one at hand is 8.3 mm long and > 6.8 by 5.5 mm wide. If a pit is placed on a level surface it naturally > lies so the wide dimension is more or less horizontal; one edge being > rounded and the other edge with a slightly raised seam. > > Both of the pits with holes are chewed in a similar way. The hole > starts at the pointed end and runs slashwise down the side that has the > raised seam to just past the midpoint; inner dimensions of the hole being > 3.0 x 2.5 mm and 3.0 x 2.4 mm. A kernel that I measured had short > dimensions of 5.0 by 4.5 mm; too large to be pulled intact through the > hole. > > So whatever ate the kernels (a Squirrel probably) must have dug them > out with a claw. > > Yours truly, Dave Webster > >
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