There is a strange phenomenon in India where countless giant birds stand on top of the huge garbage mountain, foraging for food on the garbage hill every day, along with the poor Indian who make a living by picking up garbage.
Each of them is 1.4 meters tall, and their huge bodies are like guardians of the garbage mountain, making it easy for people to dare not approach.
This bird, called the "vulture stork", is a large bird that lives in the southern part of the mainland, Southeast Asia, India, and the Greater Sunda Islands, and often moves in humid places such as lakes, ponds, and swamps, and feeds on large insects, fish, rodents, and small birds.
Unfortunately, the continental stork has not been seen in the wild since 1954, so many people believe that the bald stork is extinct on the mainland. But no, the number of vultures is very small in the world, and it is rare in the world.
In 2000, the mainland has included the vultured stork in the list of three protected animals, and in 2021, it was designated as a national second-class protected animal, which is enough to show the rarity of the vulture stork.
But the vulture storks in India are different, they live in that part of the land of India, and they can even be seen everywhere.
And Indians are also very tolerant of vultures, India is so poor, the poor have to pick up garbage every day, but no one dares to fight the idea of vultures, no one dares to eat their meat, and even share the food they have picked up with them, which can be said to be the status of "emperor".
What's going on? Why are there so many vulture storks in India, and they are so high?
秃鹳
The stork is a kind of resident bird, and the bird is a bird that lives in a place for a long time, has a small range of activities, and will not migrate because of the change of seasons, so the place where the stork lives for a long time is only in the south of the continent and India and other places. Because it is a unique bird in the east of the world, the vulture stork is also called the "Oriental Adjutant Stork".
The appearance of the vulture stork, as its name suggests, is indeed a bald man. The head and neck of the stork are almost hairless, and there are a few sparse ones, which are brownish-gray and very thin, and cannot be seen without looking closely.
However, the stork still has hair on its body, and the feathers on its back, wings, and tail are black, with a metallic sheen in the sun. The lower part of the feathers are white, black at the top and white at the bottom, with a long neck and bald head, the vulture stork can be said to be a very conspicuous presence among the birds.
In addition to being bald, vulture storks also have a particularly long beak. The stork's beak is about as thick as its head, and the whole is wedge-shaped, thick where it joins the head, and thinner the front end. This long beak allows them to hunt without much effort, and they can eat food with their heads slightly lowered, and the small fish and shrimp in the pond are no match for them at all.
So since the vulture storks feed mainly on fish and small birds, and there are no fish and birds in the garbage mountains of India, how do they survive in flocks?
The unique feeding habits of the vulture stork
In fact, vulture storks not only eat small animals such as fish and frogs, but they also occasionally feed on animal carcasses for three main reasons.
The first reason is related to the living environment and habits of the vulture stork.
Vulture storks mainly inhabit areas such as swamps and tropical rainforests, which are areas with a high incidence of animal deaths, and many animals die every day due to predation and environmental reasons. Predators don't completely eat all the carcasses of animals when they eat their food, and the hard bones and hard meat can't be digested by predators, so they throw them away.
When the carcass of an animal decays, it replenishes the earth, but it also provides food for other animals before it decays. For this reason, when the stork can't find the food it likes to eat, it will also look for some animal carcasses to eat.
The second reason is that the stork has a strong stomach acid and digestive system.
Some people may wonder if you can't get sick if you eat carrion, after all, there are a lot of microorganisms and bacteria in rotting things. Other animals can get sick if they eat carrion, but vultures don't, because they have a strong stomach acid and digestive system, just like vultures that specialize in eating carrion, they have their own defense systems.
The stork's powerful digestive system allows them to digest parts that other animals can't, such as bones. And there are some special glands in the esophagus of vulture storks that secrete strong acidic gastric juice that helps them digest food better. This special digestive system allows the stork to obtain enough nutrients from the carcass of the animal to sustain its vital activities.
The third reason is that life is compelling.
Vulture storks look quite scary, ugly and vicious, but their combat effectiveness is not high, so they will always keep a certain distance from other animals when hunting, because they really can't beat them.
As a result, sometimes they can't eat the "hot" food at all, and they have to wait in line to eat the leftovers. By eating animal carcasses, they avoid competing with other birds of prey, predators, etc., for fresh prey, thus reducing conflicts over food. This feeding habit also helps the storks to survive and reproduce in different environments.
In summary, the reason why vulture storks choose to eat animal carcasses is because this feeding habit provides them with a rich food source and a stable source of energy. At the same time, this feeding habit also helps the stork to avoid direct competition with other predators, allowing it to better adapt to different environments.
Although this feeding habit may be somewhat uncomfortable to humans, it is one of the important strategies for vulture storks to survive and reproduce in their natural environment.
This would explain why the vulture storks in India occupy the garbage dumps, the Ganges River in India is so dirty, there is everything in it, except for the few fish, which are basically polluted to death. Even if there are fish, they are basically very thin and small, or they are contaminated and poisonous.
Vulture storks are not stupid, what is delicious, what is not delicious, what can be eaten to the full, what to eat is useless, people know their hearts, so occupying the garbage heap generated by India's rich people is the best choice.
The conservation value of the vulture stork
The vulture stork is a second-class protected animal in the mainland, and many people wonder why such an ugly animal that eats carrion is protected, the reason is actually very simple, the vulture stork is of great significance to the protection of the environment.
Vulture storks have the effect of cleaning the environment, reducing the breeding of bacteria and the spread of viruses.
In nature, animal death is an inevitable phenomenon, and if the remains of carcasses are not disposed of in time, they can become breeding grounds for pathogenic bacteria and parasites, posing a threat to the health of other organisms.
By eating animal carcasses, vulture storks can effectively clean up waste and carrion from the environment, reducing the spread of pathogenic bacteria and parasites, thereby helping to maintain ecological balance and protect the health of other organisms.
In addition, the storks also help disperse seeds and promote the spread of plants in their search for food, which has a positive effect on the health and diversity of ecosystems.
The current situation of the vulture stork
However, due to deforestation and the conversion of swamps to farmland, the habitat of the vulture storks is gradually decreasing, the foraging environment is gradually becoming harsh, and the range is shrinking, and many vulture storks are starving to death because they cannot find food. This, combined with human interference and illegal hunting, has led to a declining population of the stork.
According to statistics, as of 1989, there were about 400 vultures in India. But by 1992, there were only 124 vulture storks in India, and the numbers are decreasing, and now there are even fewer of them, probably less than 100. And the mainland has not seen a vulture stork for decades, which is really regrettable.
However, last year, the staff of the Lijiang Nature Reserve Management Bureau in Yunnan Province found a vulture stork while patrolling, but its leg was injured, which is the first time in more than a decade that the vulture stork has been found again, and the vultures are likely to have returned to the mainland.
So is it possible that this vulture stork that appeared in China flew directly from the garbage mountains of India? Many people have this question, because after all, the mainland has not seen a vulture stork for a long time, and if it comes from such a dirty and messy place in India, will it bring some viruses?
In fact, judging from the habits of the vulture, the probability of this vulture stork flying from India is not high. As mentioned above, the stork is a resident bird, not an animal that migrates according to the season. Another one from India is not close, and it is difficult for a vulture stork to fly such a long distance.
Therefore, it is very likely that because the management of the continental environment has been effective, the habitat of the vulture stork has been restored to a large extent, so the vulture stork has returned to the land where it lived before.
Resources:
"Plateau Wetland Ecosystem Continues to Improve, Vulnerable Species Vulture Stork Found for the First Time in Northwest Yunnan" Jimu News
List of Terrestrial Wild Animals Protected by the State or with Important Economic and Scientific Research Value, China Forestry Network