Among the many birds is a family called the Berau family. Birds of this family are widely distributed in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and other regions, and today we will talk about this ferocious small bird - the Burrow bird!
Looks cute isn't it? The Burrow bird looks furry and small, and at first I thought it was cute. But nature always brings people a different feeling, and after seeing the Burrow bird hunt the big, I no longer dare to think it is cute.
Don't be fooled by its cute appearance, because this little bird called Berau is considered a ruthless killer.
The Burrow bird is a collective name for more than 30 species of birds under the Berau family, most of which are between 16-25 cm long. For example, the brown-backed Berau and the gray Burao, which are common in China, have an average body length of about 24 cm, while the tiger striped Burrow is slightly smaller and has an average body length of about 16 cm. The Burrow bird has a wide range of food sources, often preying on large insects, rodents, snakes and lizards, even birds larger than themselves.
If you're in the wild and see some dead rats, fish, lizards, snakes, etc., strung on spiked branches (pictured), don't think you've crossed into a small meat supermarket in the animal kingdom, it's likely that there are Berau birds nearby, because this is often their masterpiece.
This way of hanging food looks like a butcher who sold meat in ancient times, hanging meat on a hook for diners to choose from, and it is one of the reasons why the Berlau bird is called a "butcher bird".
Some friends may ask: Why do berau birds like to hang food on tree branches? Indeed, they not only have the habit of hanging their prey up, but also carefully pass the prey through sharp branches or wires, which does not seem to be easy for a bird.
In fact, the reason why the Birds of Berlau took great pains to hang their prey was that there were many of their own wisdom. Next, let's talk about the strange behavior of the Berlau bird that feels "cruel".
Birds of Berlau prefer to hunt in open areas, and they perch on the topmost branches or wires in search of prey. Once it finds prey on the ground, it will swoop down to the ground and bite the neck of the prey with its beak, just like birds, skillfully piercing the spinal cord of the prey and cutting off the vertebrae of the neck.
However, although the predatory ability of the Burrow bird is strong enough to be called the "bird of prey in the bird", its small paws do not have the strong muscles and strength of the raptor, and the small paws cannot take away the prey and cannot tear the prey, so the bird uses the environment to make up for its own deficiencies.
The Burrow bird will find a way to pierce its prey wherever possible, including barbed wire, bare nails, thorns, cactus thorns, and other sharp objects, and then tear the prey into pieces with a sharp beak and eat it little by little.
And sometimes the Birds don't eat their freshly hung prey. Some researchers believe that this is a way for Berau birds to store food.
Because the Birds of Berau do not have the kind of sacs that can temporarily store food after eating, this causes them to eat fast and hungry quickly. The Burrow bird hangs leftover food in a familiar place where it can eat at any time. This is much like some rural areas where bacon and sausages are hung on stoves and taken as they go.
The researchers also found that this habit of the Berau bird perfectly reduces the toxicity of certain locusts, because the Burrow bird will let the locust hang there for a day or two, which allows the locust toxin to be degraded.
In addition, at the beginning of the breeding season, the Berau birds will also hang their prey pierced on the sharp objects for a period of time, sometimes not even for weeks, in order to lure the female and mark the male's territory. At the end of the breeding season, males also stock up on food near the nest to feed their growing families.
Even more amazingly, in one study case, the researchers found that the Berlau bird had returned to the wreckage of a frog "mummified" that had been hanging before it, which had been strung there a year earlier, suggesting that they also had extraordinary memory.
Looking at the picture of the Berau bird, can you relate it to the description in the text? To be honest, even the author feels that he is introducing another bird...