Carcass searching

Horned larks (Eremophila alpestris) had brain cholinesterase activity levels depressed 22% at 3 days posttreatment, and 8% at 16 days. No sick or dead birds found however, no systematic searches were made for the small lark carcasses, nor were specific observations for toxic signs conducted (McEwen etal. 1986)... 

The rattlesnake C. viridis searches for the particular odor it had experienced when striking the prey. In one experiment, snakes were induced to strike perfume-treated mice. Then they were exposed to perfumed, but non-envenomated, carcasses. The snakes preferred a carcass with the same odor as the originally struck mouse. In a second experiment, snakes preferred the carcasses of mice on the same diet as the ones they had struck. Thus rattlesnakes form a... 

Chiszar, D., Nelson, P., and Smith, H. M. (1988a). Analysis of the behavioral sequence emitted by rattlesnakes during feeding episodes III strike-induced chemosensory searching and location of rodent carcasses. Bulletin ofthe Maryland Herpetological Society 24,99-108. 

Although they had once been a warrior tribe, by the time the Dutch came to Africa the Hottentots were a tribe of cattle and sheep herders. The Dutch called them "beachcombers" because the Hottentots frequented the shoreline searching for any edible meat still on the carcasses of seals and whales stranded on the beaches. This curious scavenging for meat in the midst of herds of cattle intrigued the Dutch, as did the Hottentot s reluctance to trade his cattle. 

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