A mature oak tree will have thousands of acorns on it, and we may wonder what happens to all of them. Besides the few that sprout into new trees the following spring, countless numbers are eaten by birds and animals. More than 80 different creatures eat acorns, from mice and squirrels to deer and bears.
Besides squirrels and chipmunks, woodpeckers are perhaps the greatest stockpilers. Where these birds nest, it is not uncommon to find hundreds of half-inch holes drilled in the bark of a tree, with one or two acorns stuck in each one. They also do this to wooden power-line poles, from the ground up to the wires, stuffing acorns in them.
However, insects eat even more acorns than animals and birds do. Some insects bore through the shell to get at the nut, and others wait until the nut decays to eat them. The most active insect is the half-inch-long acorn weevil, which attacks acorns while they are still on the tree. It has tiny, sharp teeth at the end of a long snout which it uses to cut through the tough shell. The tasty bits of food are enjoyed, and it doesn’t stop until its snout is completely inside. Then it moves to another spot and repeats the drilling, eventually laying an egg in each hole before moving on to another nut.
Soon a larva hatches in each hole and for several weeks feeds on the nut, until the acorn drops off the tree. Hitting the ground signals the larva to come out, and it immediately burrows several inches into the ground where it may remain for as long as five years. During that time, it changes from larva to a mature weevil and soon flies to an overhead acorn to repeat what those before it have done for centuries of time.
Weevils are not the only insects that depend on acorns. Crack open one that’s lying on the ground, and you may find a moth inside, or beetles, small ants, sow bugs, wireworms, tiny snails, caterpillars or other creatures that have made the empty shell, left behind by the weevil, into a comfortable, temporary home.
We may not understand why so many insects are in the world, but each is a part of God’s creation and has a purpose in being here. As the opening Bible verse tells us, our ways and thoughts are not the same as the Creator’s, but we should thank Him that His ways and thoughts have been toward us in loving-kindness. He showed this so wonderfully when He died on Calvary’s cross to take away the sins of any who will call on Him and accept Him as a loving Saviour. Have you done this?
ML-10/28/2001