No they cannot.
Many kinds of birds, as well as squirrels, chipmonks, and other small animals, eat pine cone seeds.
they eat conifers, cones, pine cone, acorns
Squirrels eat the seeds at the base of the scales near the pine cone's center.
Seeds, especially the seeds contained in pine cones. The crossed bill helps them extract the seeds from the cone.
Woodpeckers with a good water source nearby
Spread the cone open & eat the seeds raw, roasted or dried. The seeds can also be ground & used as a type of flour for bread.
A type of pine cone that requires fire for the seeds to be dispersed from the cone
If you have a seed that is a tree seed, then it will grow into a tree. The corn plant is not a tree seed, but the peach seed is. The acorn is a tree seed, the pine cone is a collection of pine seeds. Now you get the point.
Birds with strong cone-shaped beaks can crack open seeds and nuts to eat them.
NO Actually YES, bears eat the pine nuts inside of the cones. Video documentation has shown bears digging up a squirrels stashed cones and eating the cone. A documentary on the Animal Planet showed this action in Yellowstone National Park.
Squirrels, Eastern Chipmunks, Voles and mice eat pine needles and seeds. White-tailed deer, Eastern cottontails and beaver eat the bark. Several birds also eat pine seeds including the Pine Warbler, White-breasted Nuthatch and Black-capped Chickadee.
What you are seeing in upper part of the tree is the female cone. It is a large hardened, dark brown cone that is mostly referred to as a pine cone. The smaller, inconspicuous male cone (or pollen cone) grows either singly or in clusters, depending on the species. They are usually found on the lower branches. The male cones wither and die shortly after releasing their pollen in the spring.