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Бродячие собаки отгоняют орлов от добычи.
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На фото: Степной орел защищается от напавшей на его добычу бродячей собаки. Через несколько минут орлу пришлось улететь.
Чандигарх, Индия. 2 февраля любители дикой природы наблюдали противостояние бродячих собак, которые напали на птиц слетевшихся к туше буйвола. Это произошло в 20 футах от дороги ведущей на Харьяну. Около 200 орлов и гималайских грифов слетелись к туше мертвого буйвола. В пиршестве участвовали также красноклювые лазоревые сороки, вороны и вороны.
Д-р Вибху Пракаш рассказал, что собаки безусловно представляют серьезную угрозу для наземно гнездящихся птиц и фауны. Но для птиц мусорщиков бывают даже полезны, так как помогают им найти пищу. Съедают собаки, по словам Пракаша якобы меньше чем птицы, в то время как гриф может съесть до 6 кг мяса и после этого даже не может лететь, оставаясь спать на земле.
Wild buzz: Cooperative of scavengers. 06.02.2016
A Steppe eagle having a piece of flesh in its claws was confronted by dogs at the Jodbeed carcass dump, Bikaner, Rajasthan. One dog challenged the eagle but did not dare come close as the bird spread its wings in a show of intimidation. But a couple of minutes after this dramatic encounter, the dogs attacked as a group and the eagle had to give up and fly away. (Photo credit: Mohit Verma)
Wildlife watchers have observed feral dogs (commonly referred to as stray/village dogs) chase away vultures and migratory eagles from carcasses.
On certain occasions, the tables are turned and a plucky bird or a group may ward off the challenge of dogs. On February 2, we observed an estimated 200 Himalayan griffon vultures and a Steppe eagle feast in phases on a buffalo carcass that lay 20 feet down the hillside on the Morni-Raipurrani road (Haryana). Smaller birds such as crows and ravens were also part of the scavenging as were Red-billed blue magpies picking morsels torn from the carcass by larger scavengers. Dogs were dominating and when they left, jackals arrived and pulled the carcass down the hillside and out of sight. But there was no sign of acrimony in this motley bunch of scavengers.
I asked Dr Vibhu Prakash if the exploding population of dogs posed a threat to feed sources of avian scavengers. He heads the pioneering Jatayu Conservation and Breeding Centre at Pinjore and as a field scientist conducted studies on raptors at Bharatpur in the 1980s and 1990s. Dr Prakash said that what we see actually at work is a ‘cooperative of scavengers’. Dogs, no doubt, posed a threat to human health and to wild mammalians and other ground-nesting birds but not to avian scavengers, said Dr Prakash.
“Scavengers like dogs and jackals are important for vultures/eagles because they help these birds locate a carcass. In fact, adult vultures will not descend to a carcass till dogs and crows have started to eat. Dogs and jackals cannot eat more than 5% of their body weight at a time and get satiated. This is when vultures get an opportunity. If food is plentiful, vultures can eat as much as their body weight at a time, i.e., 5-6 kg, and get so gorged that they sometimes sleep on the ground and are unable to move. The fact that migratory eagles frequent carcass dumps where dogs are present shows that despite confrontation, eagles do manage to get food,’’ explained Dr Prakash, adding that when baits and traps are set to capture vultures for conservation and captive-breeding purposes, dogs play a crucial role in luring these birds.
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