Take, for example, chipmunks. You may know that they transport food to their burrows in their voluminous cheek pouches. This makes them really cute to watch, but there is much more to the story.

These small rodents eat a wide variety of foods including seeds, nuts, fruit, insects and fungi. When they bring these items back to their woodland burrows to cache for the winter they end up "planting" some of the seeds inadvertently. They also supply fungi to tree roots allowing them to better fix nitrogen and grow better.

Thus, the chipmunk can actually improve the health of area trees, while planting future trees and seed or fruit-bearing plants. For the favor, some of the plant seeds, nuts and berries go to feed the chipmunk and their offspring.

Of course, their numbers are carefully balanced by predators - snakes, birds and small carnivores. This fascinating interrelationship makes the fabric of life as we know it.