 Besides the prehistoric use of canyon live oaks as a human food source, the acorns are consumed by a variety of wildlife as diverse as acorn woodpecker, California ground squirrel, dusky-footed wood rat, western harvest mouse and black-tailed deer.Surprisingly there seems little difference in food preference by wildlife among different oak species.Extensive hybridization of "Quercus chrysolepis" has been documented with several other sympatric oak species, probably to a greater extent than for any other "Quercus" species.