What does it mean when we ‘eat crow’?
To eat crow is a phrase, or an idiom, used sometimes in conversation.
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Tag carrion
Four-Spotted Silphus Beetle
The Four-Spotted Silphus (Dendroxena quadrimaculata) is an insect in the Silphidae family of carrion beetles and burying beetles. It is a silphid.
The Four-Spotted Silphus has a flattened, oval-shaped, orange-brown body and elytra (wing casings) marked with four black spots. Its scutellum (head) and the centre of the pronotum is black.
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Himalayan Griffon
The Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) is a large bird of prey, a raptor, and an accipiter. It is a vulture. It is also known as the Himalayan Griffon Vulture. It is related to the Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus).
The Himalayan Griffon has a long, spiky, pale-brown ruff around its neck with white streaks. Its head has pale blue skin, covered with soft, yellowish down feathers. Its underside and underwings are pale-brown or buff-coloured. Its legs are feathered, and its feet can be greenish-grey to white. Its upperbody is pale and unstreaked with contrasting dark-brown wings. It has a grey, hooked beak, and small, orange-brown eyes.
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Why is the Carrion Crow called the Carrion Crow?
Why is the Carrion Crow called the Carrion Crow? How did the Carrion Crow get its name?
The Carrion Crow (Corvus corone), native to western Europe, eats carrion. Carrion is the meat of dead animals. It will also eat insects, worms, grain, seeds, fruit, frogs, eggs, and small animals.
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Lioness and her cubs
A female lion is called a lioness. The lioness has 1-4 young, called cubs. Cubs are born with their eyes closed. They open their eys after 3-10 days.
The lioness is very protective of her cubs, particularly for the first 8 months (240 days), before they join the rest of the pride. Other lionesses and their cubs will live together and look after all of the cubs. This is called allomothering.
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King Vulture
The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) is a large bird of prey, and a raptor.
The King Vulture has white and black feathers, with a grey to black ruff (collar) around its neck. It also has grey flight feathers and grey tail feathers. Its head and neck are bald, with the skin colour varying from yellow, orange, blue, and purple to red. It has a distinctive orange fleshy carbuncle on its hooked reddish beak. It has white eyes with a red eye-ring. It does not have eyelashes. It has grey legs with long grey claws.
Egyptian Vulture
The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus percnopterus) is a large bird of prey, and a raptor. It is also called the White Scavenger Vulture or the Pharaoh’s Chicken.
The Egyptian Vulture is white with long neck feathers that form a hackle (raised feathers). Its wings are pointed and its tail is wedge-shaped. It has a yellow face without feathers, a long beak with a long, horizontal nostril, a dark grey-tipped hooked beak, and dark eyes. Its legs are pink with long, straight, sharp talons. Its third and fourth toes are slightly webbed.
Carrion Crow
The Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) is a common medium-sized bird. It is a corvid.
The Carrion Crow is black-brown with a green or purple iridescent sheen. Its beak, legs, and feet are black. It has a strong stout dark-grey beak. Its nostrils have bristle-like (hairy) feathers. It has relatively short, broad wings in comparison with rooks and ravens.
What is the jaw strength of the Hyena?
The Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is a scavenging carnivorous African mammal. It has one of the strongest bite strengths of any mammal due to its strong jaws.
A dog, for example, such as a Mastiff or Rottweiler, has an average bite strength of 325 pounds per square inch. An African Lion has a bite strength of 650 pounds per square inch. A Bengal Tiger has a bite strength of 1,050 pounds per square inch. The Spotted Hyena has a bite strength of 1,100 pounds per square inch.
A Great White Shark has an average bite strength of 625 pounds per square inch. A Hippopotamus has an average bite strength of 1,825 pounds per square inch. The animal with the strongest bite strength is the crocodile at 3,700 pounds per square inch.
CREATURE FEATURE: Rhino Catfish
The Rhino Catfish (Pterygoplichthys scrophus) is a sail-finned amoured fish. It is also called the Janitor Fish.
The Rhino Catfish is black to dark-brown with a large sailfin dorsal fin (back fin), a ridged, armoured body, and two horn-like protrusions from its head that looks like the horn of a rhinoceros. The protrusions are actualy nostril flaps so that water doesn’t get up its nose. It has a long sac-like lung to breathe air. Its body is completely covered in small plates that look like armour. It has a suckermouth to suck up algae and filter food from the ocean seabed. It has light-coloured eyes.
Andean Condor
The Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) is a large South American bird in the Vulture family. It is a raptor and bird of prey.
The Andean Condor is black with a white ruff (collar) around its neck. Its face and neck are pinkish-red and nearly bald. Females have a bald blackish-red head and neck. It has a flattened head. Males have a dark carbuncle or comb on their head. It has white feathers on its wings. Its pale cream beak is strong with a slightly downward-curved hook, and its eyes are orange-brown. It has long sharp talons on its feet to grip its prey.
Scavenger
What is a scavenger?
Scavengers are animals that feed on the meat of dead animals (carrion). Many carnivores are scavengers. Scavengers are also predators.
Scavengers include vultures, hyenas, and jackals.
CREATURE FEATURE: Cinereous Vulture
The Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) is a large bird, called a raptor or accipiter. It is also called the Eurasian Black Vulture because it is native to Eurasia. It should not be confused with the American Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), which is a different species. The Cinereous Vulture is related to the Lappet-Faced Vulture.
The Cinereous Vulture is brown with some black feathers and white patches. It has a bald, blue-grey head and a ruff of white feathers around its neck. There is a white patch above its brown eyes. It has a blue-grey beak with a purplish cere. Its beak is the largest beak of all raptors. It has pale blue-grey legs.
It is almost 1.2 metres long (4 feet), with a wingspan of 3.1 metres (10 feet). It is one of the world’s heaviest flying birds, but it can fly at a very high altitude.
Carrion or Carcass
What is a carcass? What is carrion?
Carcass is the dead body.
Carrion is the decomposing meat.
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM