this pic from my biology textbook is way funnier than it needs to be
I hate being a bio major bc I know exactly what this stupid picture is referring to
do tell
there are these things called survivorship curves and there are three types Type I (shown in red) Type II (blue) and Type III (green) They’re created by looking at birth and death rates of a given species and the curve shows at what point in time an organism of a specific species will die. For example, humans have a fairly low infant mortality and if you make it to around age 16 you’ll probably survive until you’re around 75 unless there’s an accident or you have some undetected disease that would cause you to die early. Type III are plants, fish, and other marine animals that have a very low chance of survival at birth but if they make it past infancy they will likely live to their life expectancy. Type II are birds, small lizards and mammals and they really just die randomly.
many people don’t understand just why cat attacks are so deadly to birds. even if the bird receives what looks like a minor cut, cat saliva is extremely deadly to them and will poison them if it enters the bloodstream. even a scratch from a claw instead of a bitemark can kill them, as cats coat their claws in saliva when they clean their feet. if you find a bird that has been attacked by a cat, please bring it to a wildlife rehabber even if it seems “okay”. if your bird has been attacked by a cat, please bring it to an avian vet ASAP. it’s better to be safe than sorry!
Adding on: ASAP means “within hours,” not in a few days. It is a true emergency.
Same with reptiles! The thing that makes cat saliva so dangerous is called gram-negative bacteria and is present in the mouths of all mammals (including humans!). Any bite from a mammal on a non-mammalian animal is an emergency for this reason!
Keep your cats, dogs etc away from birds and reptiles for their own safety.
After taking its prey into its beak, the shoebill opens its bill just enough for its victim to poke its head out. Then, the shoebill clamps down again with its knife-edged beak and decapitates the thing before swallowing it whole.
The black swan (Cygnus atratus) is a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. (Source)
🔥 There is beauty in destruction🔥 