10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

They look crap but presumably offer some protection for the chicks, though not from each other (see the murderous activities within the nests in my previous post ). Tiphys died either of a snakebite or of a mysterious illness but he was not killed by either a tiger or a rhinoceros. Lucky him, right?

Birds 209

Birds Eagles Elephants Rhinoceros 209

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

The latter is even captured in a somewhat gruesome video , in which the hornbill plucks a caged bird out of its cage and kills and eats it. At 15h59, the female picked up the fourth chick and killed it by repeatedly crushing it with her beak. Then she tried to feed it to the remaining chicks.

Rhinoceros 125

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 125

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

The leopards place their kill in a tree, protecting it from poaching by other predators. So, the best way to find a leopard is to find the kill. It was a fresh kill, and though it might take hours, the observers knew that eventually the leopard was going to come back for his breakfast.

South Africa 252

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 252

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2014

The Snow Leopards’ thick pelts have long been highly sought-after artifacts by the people who share its Central Asian range, providing amazing insulation in the cold, but another reason their pelts are so thick must be to protect the leopard when it takes rough tumbles across its rugged, rocky environment.

Snow Leopard 279

Snow Leopard Leopards Hunting Sheep 279

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

Wikipedia also has an interesting paragraph hinting at observation bias in ornithologists: “At the continental scale, saddle-billed storks preferred protected areas that have a higher extent of open water compared to areas without the storks. The benefit for the wasps is that they get to keep a beautiful pet.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

This Lion should not be shot, as it is a protected reserve that forbids shooting. There are times when acting in the conservation interest of a species or ecosystem means that the welfare of specific animals is compromised, which is a fancy way of saying that conservationists sometimes have to kill animals for the greater good.

Lions 181

Lions Killing Hunting Hunters 181