Scientists observed for the first time a badger burying a cow and that's a highly impressive stunt when the cow is much larger. (Science Daily: A badger can bury a cow by itself)
This is a camera trap image of a badger burying a calf carcass in Utah's Grassy Mountains, January 2016
Credit: Courtesy of Evan Buechley
Just in case you never saw a badger burying a cow before.
While studying scavenger behavior in Utah's Great Basin Desert, University of Utah biologists observed an American badger do something that no other scientists had documented before: bury an entire calf carcass by itself.
Watch a video of the badger here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsHiOwR7cfc&feature=youtu.be
While badgers and their relatives are known to cache food stores, this is the first known instance of a badger burying an animal larger than itself. The finding suggests that badgers may have no limit to the size of animal they can cache, and that they may play an important role in sequestering large carcasses, which could benefit cattle ranchers in the West. The study is published in Western North American Naturalist.
- SD
That note was mostly because we must have that link for watching a badger burying a cow and, yes, I'm sure it is a metaphor.
Note: kill the music as you will want to lose that quickly.
Ithaka prides itself on finding the strange things but that one is too nuts for words.
Ed: why does it do that?
So it can eat it, li'l snowflake. That took a week so don't you think it worked hard enough for it?
That sounds disgusting and likely abhorrent to li'l snowflakes but it's a clever move to bury the food. Any gardener knows you don't have to dig down too far before the soil gets more moist and significantly cooler. For the badger, this is like putting his chow in the fridge and it's got the extra benefit of keeping it away from prying noses. The badger's burrow leads up to his buried bounty and he can snack on that cow for a month or more (seriously).
To our antiseptic sensibilities, his tongue should get every disease in the Universe and immediately rot off or some such simply for touching meat which has been in the ground for a month. However, I imagine if there's any type of bacterial disease developing in it, the badger will likely smell it or become an ex-badger. Evolution in action, you know.
This is what you need for human cemeteries, see. Then you won't need the robo gravediggers after all.
Ed: what robo gravediggers?
They're coming. Deal with it.
Instead of robos, we can go with badgers since then we won't have to do anything. Just chuck a corpse over the fence and let them plant it.
Ed: they will eat it!
What difference should it make when worms will do that anyway. Buck up, laddie, and look at the bright side. At least this cemetery will never fill to capacity.
Ed: it will fill to capacity with fat badgers and then what the hell?
Living too close to the cemetery may not be such a good idea.
This is a camera trap image of a badger burying a calf carcass in Utah's Grassy Mountains, January 2016
Credit: Courtesy of Evan Buechley
Just in case you never saw a badger burying a cow before.
While studying scavenger behavior in Utah's Great Basin Desert, University of Utah biologists observed an American badger do something that no other scientists had documented before: bury an entire calf carcass by itself.
Watch a video of the badger here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsHiOwR7cfc&feature=youtu.be
While badgers and their relatives are known to cache food stores, this is the first known instance of a badger burying an animal larger than itself. The finding suggests that badgers may have no limit to the size of animal they can cache, and that they may play an important role in sequestering large carcasses, which could benefit cattle ranchers in the West. The study is published in Western North American Naturalist.
- SD
That note was mostly because we must have that link for watching a badger burying a cow and, yes, I'm sure it is a metaphor.
Note: kill the music as you will want to lose that quickly.
Ithaka prides itself on finding the strange things but that one is too nuts for words.
Ed: why does it do that?
So it can eat it, li'l snowflake. That took a week so don't you think it worked hard enough for it?
That sounds disgusting and likely abhorrent to li'l snowflakes but it's a clever move to bury the food. Any gardener knows you don't have to dig down too far before the soil gets more moist and significantly cooler. For the badger, this is like putting his chow in the fridge and it's got the extra benefit of keeping it away from prying noses. The badger's burrow leads up to his buried bounty and he can snack on that cow for a month or more (seriously).
To our antiseptic sensibilities, his tongue should get every disease in the Universe and immediately rot off or some such simply for touching meat which has been in the ground for a month. However, I imagine if there's any type of bacterial disease developing in it, the badger will likely smell it or become an ex-badger. Evolution in action, you know.
This is what you need for human cemeteries, see. Then you won't need the robo gravediggers after all.
Ed: what robo gravediggers?
They're coming. Deal with it.
Instead of robos, we can go with badgers since then we won't have to do anything. Just chuck a corpse over the fence and let them plant it.
Ed: they will eat it!
What difference should it make when worms will do that anyway. Buck up, laddie, and look at the bright side. At least this cemetery will never fill to capacity.
Ed: it will fill to capacity with fat badgers and then what the hell?
Living too close to the cemetery may not be such a good idea.
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