May 29, 2009

Of Scabrous Heads and Garbage

Photo by Dr. Fitz
The more storks I get to know, the more I begin to wonder exactly which stork it's supposed to be that delivers our babies? Certainly not the marabou or wood stork. And certainly not the Greater Adjutant Stork.

These massive birds (over an eight-foot wingspan) are natives of southeast Asia. They're endangered (with about 1,000 individuals estimated left in the wild, they'd be hard pressed to deliver all those babies), but they're adaptable. Like most storks, they eat frogs and fish, etc. But this one will also eat carrion, for which its scabrous head is an adaptation. They have also learned to scratch a living out of human garbage dumps.

Much like the Grinch of Whoville fame, this peruser of garbage knows far too much of the underbelly of humanity. I'd hate to hear his opinion of us.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think it's so sad whenever I see animals having to eat human garbage...shows how much we've polluted the world and having innocent animals share our consequences.