This is the shrike bird, when they catch the prey, they will find a nearby tree with thorns, and then string the prey on the thorns, slowly feasting, it looks very cruel, hence the nickname of the butcher bird.
There are about 33 species of shrike worldwide, and 12 species in China, distributed everywhere except the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau.
Since they often hang their prey from trees or tightropes for days or even longer, these prey will be dried.
So, sometimes you see a small air-dried animal in the wild, don't make a fuss, there is a high probability that the shrike bird did it.
The reason why the shrike have this unique behavior is that they use the body of a bird to do the work of a bird of prey.
The shrike is a medium-sized finch with a size of between 16-25 cm, they are not picky eaters and eat everything but vegetarians, but their prey includes rodents that are comparable to their own size, if not larger.
Because the shrike does not have the powerful claws of birds of prey, they are unable to hold their prey to feed themselves when they encounter these larger prey.
This method of piercing the prey is mainly to immobilize the prey in order to tear it apart.
In fact, many people don't know that the shrike also has a very unique hunting style when faced with these rodent prey that are comparable to their own size.
First, the shrike grabs the rodent with its beak from behind, clamps the base of the neck and squeezes the spinal cord, which paralyzes the prey.
The shrike then shakes its head back and forth to break the neck of its prey, which sounds simple, but the shrike whipping back and forth motion produces an acceleration of up to 6g, which is quite amazing.
Scientists discovered this unique technique by analyzing high-speed videos of shrike bird hunts to see how they kill large rodents.
On the other hand, the shrike has a very strong urge to pierce and will often practice piercing with leaves around the nest, especially those young birds that have just come out of the nest.
Obviously, piercing prey is no longer just about immobilizing the prey, it has other functions.
These include air-drying food for later consumption and degrading toxins from prey.
The shrike is very intelligent, and its prey includes insects that carry their own toxins, but through wind exposure, the toxins are degraded and become edible.
In addition, there is ample evidence that male shrike birds use this method to attract the opposite sex.
Loading...