A drive on any backroad in Lake County will reveal empty beer and soft drink cans, abandoned cars, old refrigerators and other trash. It’s not just a problem here in Lake County, but throughout the state. Without a doubt humans are the worst polluters and wasteful creatures on earth. We often dump our trash in the forests and leave campgrounds a mess.
Whereas humans think they have a good recycling program where plastics, paper and other materials are concerned, it pales in comparison to what happens in nature. Take away the human factor and you will see that nothing goes to waste in the wild.
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 this efficiency of Mother Nature occurs when a large creature such as a deer dies. A number of years ago scientists from the University of California placed a set of cameras around a mountain lion-killed deer carcass and left them there for a week. During that time the cameras revealed that not only did the mountain lion return to feed on the carcass, but also bobcats, skunks, opossums, a fox and a wood rat fed on the remains. In other words, that deer provided food for not only 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). Lake County is known for its abundance of vultures. At any given time they can be seen soaring high in the sky looking for food.
The vulture is often called “the undertaker of the forest” and for good reason. It has one of the most unique methods among wild creatures when it comes to locating dead animals. Its eyesight is excellent and 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 dying a body begins to decompose. As it decomposes it gives off a gas called mercaptan. The vulture’s brain has evolved to the point where it can pick up 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 camped in the national forest and had killed a deer during the deer season. I took the head, hide and innards and hid them under 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 found that carcass by sight alone.
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 dead animals. A bear can pick up the scent of a dead animal from more than a mile away. In fact, the more rotten the meat the better for a bear. Actually, about 50 percent of a bear’s diet is carrion. They have been known to follow coyotes and when a kill is made the bear will drive off the coyotes and feed on the remains
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 consume the bones and antlers of a dead animal. The bones and antlers supply much needed calcium.
All this adds up to nothing is wasted in the wild and everything is cleaned up. Unlike humans, you’ll never see a wild animal dump a beer can, washing machine or refrigerator in the woods.
