Photographed by Bette Jackson If you are have difficulty playing
the audio click here Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the
wild things. Of Florida's 400 different kinds of birds, only the
Florida scrub jay is found only in Florida. The Florida scrub of
the Lake Wales Ridge is the oldest of Florida's dry land
habitats. It was all that existed of Florida during global
warming and higher ocean levels more than two million years ago.
The desert-like scrub is a harsh environment and the Florida
scrub jay has honed skills to perfection as a citizen of this
scrub. The Florida scrub jay depends on acorns, burying many in
times of plenty for retrieval in times of scarcity. Many acorns
buried are never retrieved, but begin growing, continuing the
scrub habitat the birds require. Florida scrub jays have a
unique social system: they're cooperative breeders. Scrub jay
real estate is rare, so offspring continue to live with their
parents paying the rent by helping defend the family territory,
and helping raise their par