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Smithsonian National Zoo in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

The Nut Seekers

Chipmunks and squirrels are nuts about nuts

 
 
The Nut Seekers Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), October 22, 2021
1. The Nut Seekers Marker
Inscription.
Squirrels and chipmunks help in the birth of new trees by spreading their seeds far and wide.

Chipmunks hoard acorns, beechnuts, and maple seeds in larders in their underground burrows. Squirrels bury acorns here and there for later retrieval. Each dropped or forgotten seed may become a mighty, oak, or maple, or beech.

Smithsonian Scientists at Work
National Zoo biologist Miles Roberts is curious about chipmunks.

He discovered that chipmunks use fallen trees and branches as elevated runways and lookout posts. The most sought-after chipmunk territories have lots of these structures.

As a result, we try to leave trees and branches where they fall to improve chipmunk neighborhoods.
 
Erected by Smithsonian Institution.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: AnimalsHorticulture & ForestryScience & Medicine.
 
Location. 38° 55.806′ N, 77° 2.864′ W. Marker is in Northwest Washington in Washington, District of Columbia. It is in Smithsonian National Zoo. Marker is on Olmsted Walk, 0.3 miles west of North Road, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8
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other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Saving Chinese Alligators From Extinction (a few steps from this marker); Aldabra Tortoise (a few steps from this marker); Where Did The Portico Go? (within shouting distance of this marker); Close Call (within shouting distance of this marker); Komodo Dragons at the National Zoo (within shouting distance of this marker); The O-Line (within shouting distance of this marker); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); What's the O-Line? (about 300 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Northwest Washington.
 
Additional commentary.
1. Miles Roberts' Observations and the Scientific Method
Roberts' observations are important in the History and Philosophy of Science. In Newton's Principia Methematica, the scientific method is defined through making observations via isolating subjects and comparing them to a controlled environment.

This understanding of the scientific method would later be challenged through liberationist philosophies of science, especially among Feminist Philosophers of Science. In the 1980s and 1990s, new schools of epistemology were discussed, particularly between Sandra Harding (in The Science Question in Feminism, wherein she famously
The Nut Seekers Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), October 22, 2021
2. The Nut Seekers Marker
compared Newton's work to a "rape manual") and Helen Longino (in Science as Social Knowledge), wherein the scientific method was expanded to include observing subjects in their contexts and environments and "getting a feel" for them.

Regardless of whether Miles Roberts intentionally embraced Feminist Philosophy of Science, it informed his work in this instance.
    — Submitted October 22, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 22, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 183 times since then and 8 times this year. Photos:   1, 2. submitted on October 22, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.

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Mar. 28, 2024