Without a doubt humans are the worst polluters and wasteful creatures on earth. We dump our trash in the forests and leave campgrounds a mess.
Whereas humans think they have a good recycling program in which plastics, paper and other materials are recycled, we pale in comparison to wild creatures. In the wild almost nothing goes to waste and is quickly consumed.
For example, trees and other vegetation that die are absorbed back into the ground as fertilizer and nutrients so that other plants can grow. When an animal dies its carcass is immediately consumed by other animals. Even the bones are used.
A good example of the efficiency of Mother Nature was recently demonstrated at the University of California”s Hopland Research Station. According to biologist Greg Giusti, biologists located a deer that had been freshly killed by a mountain lion and dragged into heavy cover.
The biologists placed two cameras around the deer carcass and left them there for a week. During that time the cameras revealed that not only the lion returned to feed on the carass but also bobcats, skunks, possums, a fox and a wood rat. In other words, the deer the lion killed provided food not only for the lion but a whole bunch of other wildlife.
When an animal dies in the woods one of the first scavengers on the scene is the turkey vulture (commonly called a buzzard).
The vulture is often called “the undertaker of the forest” and for good reason. It possesses one of the most unique methods among wild creatures when it comes to locating dead animals. Its eyesight is excellent and it can spot the smallest dead animal as it soars high above the landscape. But its most unusual skill is its sense of smell. The vulture is one of the few birds that can smell and it uses this skill to locate decaying animals.
Within a few hours after death, a body will begin to decompose. As it decomposes it gives off a gas called mercaptan. The vulture”s brain has evolved to where it can detect the slightest amount of mercaptan and it can do this as it soars above the treetops.
A few years ago I tested out this theory. I was camping in the national forest and had killed a deer during the deer season. I took the head, hide and innards and hid them beneath a tree where they couldn”t be seen. Within a few hours four vultures arrived and started to feed on the remains. There was no way they could have detected that carcass by sight.
Another method a vulture uses to locate a carcass is by sight. A few years ago while deer hunting I decided to take a nap. It was a warm day and I flopped on my back on an open hillside. A sudden rush of air awoke me and I found myself staring up at three buzzards circling a few yards above my head. I didn”t move a muscle and they dropped closer and closer. Finally I made a slight movement and they were gone. They realized I wasn”t a food source.
When it comes to mammals, few can match the bear when it comes to locating decaying animals. A bear can pick up the scent of a dead animal from more than a mile away. It fact, the more rotten the better for a bear. Actually about 50 percent of a bear”s diet is carrion.
A coyote is another opportunist when it comes to finding dead animals. A coyote will eat anything it can swallow and a dead and stinking animal is considered a choice morsel.
Smaller animals such as mice will consume the bones and antlers of a dead animal. The bones and antlers supply much-needed calcium.
All this adds up to nothing being wasted in the wild and everything is cleaned up. Unlike humans, you”ll never see a wild animal dump a washing machine or refrigerator in the woods.
