Embarrassingly Dumb Ways Animals Died While Hunting

foreign a dead whale is something that always gets people's attention especially if those people are doing whale research but a huge carcass in the water will also attract those who don't mind having a snack researchers have repeatedly observed sharks gathering in groups near the carcasses of dead whales and feasting wildly taking advantage of such a great opportunity during these feasts you can see at least 60 sharks circling around their prey but scientists say there could actually be more than a hundred of them whale carcasses are simply that great of a dinner option for many shark species best of all sharks don't have to do anything to eat heartily except that a great opportunity to Feast can also pose huge risks but to realize this you have to figure out why dead whales end up on the surface after death in the first place there are several reasons why this happens let's take the most common one when cetaceans decompose their bodies fill with gas and their insides expand which gives the animal extra buoyancy however gas is not the only reason why whales continue to float against their will after death they also have big deposits of fat well more like huge deposits of fat even if the whale falls apart while decomposing its heavy Parts like bones will sink while the lighter Parts where there's a lot of fat will stay at the surface eventually they form a disgusting sticky stain a trail of blood fat and flesh that can stretch for miles across the surface of the ocean fat Rich huge citation species such as humpback whales sometimes float for more than a week making them perfect targets for scavengers such as sharks and sea birds however destinations don't just float to the surface they can also deflate I've mentioned this more than once it happens roughly like this as Wales decompose gas is released and can't find its way out their insides become liquid sooner or later all this nasty content will take the path of least resistance and go out through the whale's mouth but before this happens we have a severely bloated whale a giant bomb full of Bones intestines and other entrails and if it's a pregnant female there's a fetus inside in such situations the dead calf has been known to burst out of its mother's mouth like a rocket and the gas that leaves the carcass researchers call the worst smell of their life now think about it if a fetus or intestines can leave a dead whale's body at high speeds through a fitting opening what happens when that opening is made by a shark sharks take their first bites while the whale carcass is still full of gas which means it can suffer a serious blow right down its throat with some heavy internal organ or bone it can even lose a couple of teeth while sharks are prepared for this they already lose their teeth every day and they don't need to go to the dentist luckily I think sharks are aware though that eating whale carcasses can be risky at any rate they don't eat everything they come across yeah I know it's hard to believe it after seeing movies like Jaws but observation suggests that sharks don't fight each other to death once they're near a whale carcass and they don't even tear their prey apart in random places just to get a bite of something it's not like that at all during the observations the scientists noted that the Sharks were very picky and targeted the nutritious fat first they also took what they call test bites to find out what they wanted to eat and they only took a full bite when they liked the contents when a shark gets a mouthful of muscle it tends to spit it out assuming that the concept of spitting even applies to these creatures that said it's not easy to tear off whale fat even with their damn sharp teeth so the sharks have to pull it from side to side it may look a little aggressive but in fact the shark knows exactly what it's doing the fact that sharks are picky eaters is apparent due to their ability to distinguish between prey and non-prey as shown when they bite surfboards or swimmers in wetsuits and quickly realize they are not edible but we'll come back to the shark bites a little later as I've mentioned earlier sharks go crazy when they encounter a whale carcass it's truly A Feast for them with so much food available everyone is welcome to join the feast sharks are among the first at the buffet table because they have sharp teeth and powerful jaws that can tear pieces of fat from the carcass some sharks eat so much they swim away with bloated bellies but when sharks bite and shake a dead whale many fragments of the carcass scatter in different directions and end up as food for smaller organisms sharks also make holes in the fat and other animals such as sea birds can get to the whale meat through them you remember the carcass floats on the surface right then after the Sharks tear the whale apart it sinks to the bottom and the feast continues this time it's the scavenger's turn is they'll feed on the carcass for decades this cluster of hungry creatures includes crabs fish worms and many small Crustaceans called isopods and amphipods since they're small there's enough food to sustain them for a long time if the whale carcass drifts towards the shore large land scavengers are after it namely scientists it may sound strange but humans act roughly the same way as animals except they don't eat what they cut off the whale but use it for research and it's not always easy to get to the carcass so scientists have to collect samples in rather unusual way days for example one researcher used a saw mounted on a pole the kind used to Lop trees and while he was reaching for the whale standing on the Rocks his colleagues held him so he wouldn't fall if the whale is washed upon the shore or Beach smaller scavengers come to pick it over usually these are birds Rove beetles ghost crabs flies and many others the most important thing is that none of these scavengers are at risk because sharks already did the most dangerous work the gas from the whale is out and eating is safe now let's go back to sharks biting things they shouldn't be biting there's a theory that says these Predators attack swimmers or Surfers because they mistake them for seals and seals as you probably know are one of the shark's favorite foods to test how much humans look like seals scientists had to do a couple of experiments underwater cameras to record what seals and sea lions the shark's natural prey look like from a shark's perspective then they did the same with human swimmers and Surfers from the same angle turned out that sharks really can get confused these Marine predators are colorblind with sensitive eyes and not the sharpest Vision which means that the environment often looks blurry for sharks in such conditions it can be difficult to tell whether the creature swimming above you is a person on a surfboard or a seal except for details like arms it all looks too similar but a shark with poor eyesight just won't notice the arms and given that Surfers are attacked more often than anyone else the theory seems quite plausible yes sharks just get confused yes sharks bite humans because they mistake them for someone else apparently humans are not a part of a shark's regular diet compared to seals we aren't nutritious enough to make the effort of catching us worthwhile most shark attacks on humans occur because sharks are confused or unsure and may take a test bite out of caution sharks don't realize how fragile we are when they bite us sharks may not realize that humans are a risky meal option if a shark does eat a human it faces the possibility of being hunted down as a man-eating shark by humans seeking Revenge though actually stories of animals making poor choices are not uncommon in 2021 about 60 Australian freshwater crocodiles were found dead in dangu Gorge National Park in Australia it seems they were poisoned imagine the researchers surprised when they realized that the crocodile's deaths seem to be caused by cane toads you think well how can a cane toad possibly be a threat to a Croc it's no match to it unlike the Croc the cane toad has no sharp teeth powerful jaws and all that the Predator can swallow it faster than the toad can do anything about it but even despite the size difference the toad as they say has the last laugh since 2005 dead Australian freshwater crocodiles have become a common sight for the locals to the point that it might be called a mass extinction if one were to exaggerate a bit okay there Mr Crocodile huh and it's the cane toad a member of an invasive species that's taking over Australia right now that's to blame for this mass extinction crocodiles are just some of their victims who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time during the dry season food becomes scarce crocodiles get hungrier and cane toads look for water when the two species cross paths this results in death establishing a connection between cane toads and a stack of deceased crocodiles is usually quite difficult partly because the Crocs digest food too quickly it's rare to find toad remains in the stomach of a dead crocodile however researchers were able to link the regions in which crocodiles died to the distribution of toads and they overlap so it looks like we have a suspect that releases a toxin dangerous to many predators that aren't immune to it the toxin doesn't have time to affect the crocodile while the toad is in its mouth because the prey gets into its stomach very quickly but after that there's no way to get rid of the source of the toxin the crocodile dies and the researchers then can't figure out what killed it and as is usually the case with invasive species Australian animals are simply not ready to interact with cane toads these toads were introduced to Australia in 1935 to control sugar cane eating pests but instead of fighting the evil they joined it and began to multiply spreading across the continent at a terrible rate along the way cane toads are also destroying local species this is why you should think twice before inviting someone in an effort to protect native species scientists are trying to teach them that eating cane toads is not a good idea it's better not to have any contact with them at all and in order to make animals understand this they came up with a peculiar strategy scientists sedated several cane toads removed their toxic parts and then injected them with the special solution and put them as baits for the crocodiles the idea is very simple a predator who eats this special chunk of the toad will feel nauseous and will avoid toads in the future if you've ever had food poisoning you know how it works there are of course traditional methods of dealing with invasive species typically these involve manually removing undesired animals from the environment or fencing off a certain area they've already occupied but the problem is that just one female cane toad can lay thirty thousand eggs twice a year so no traditional methods would work here reducing the number of cane toads is simply not realistic the only thing left to do is mitigate the effects but don't think that absolutely all Australian animals are defenseless against croaking Invaders the white ibis has come up with a unique way to eat cane toads that initially confused observers seems like the Ibis has figured out that it was the toad skin that was dangerous they would toss their prey in the air and then either wipe it on the wet grass or go to the nearest water source and rinse the toad there that is the Ibis literally washed away the toxins before swallowing the Toad's hole not even all people realize they have to wash their food before they eat it they have a lot to learn from White ibises other birds such as Hawks and crows have also been seen eating cane toads but they don't do it as gracefully as the Ibis they simply flip the Toad on its back and rip out its insides leaving poison glands untouched yup the prey is eaten the Predator is still alive but you have to admit it's not as spectacular as swallowing a towed hole so some species have adapted to eating toads others like crocodiles are taught by humans to avoid them but how catastrophic is the situation really I mean is everything lost the infestation of toads can't be stopped well not really it's possible to make some toxic animals completely safe to others take for example tetradotoxin found in animals like puffer fish Japanese fire-bellied newts and Costa Rican variable Harlequin tones scientists used to think that each of these animals had found a way to synthesize tetradotoxin independently of each other but then they came to the conclusion that this was unlikely although it does happen it's still rare for completely distinct animals to get identical adaptations through Evolution turned out that when puffer fish are raised in tanks with filtered bacteria-free water they lose their toxicity similarly a special diet deprives amphibians of toxicity while scientists haven't yet tried to do something similar with cane toads that doesn't mean their toxicity can can't be turned off maybe we should just wait science is advancing after all but don't you think we're ignoring the large land animals meanwhile they also have problems with dangerous food that they don't even consider dangerous in the first place a truly horrific story happened in Kruger National Park a hungry lion cub tried to eat a buffalo that was recently killed but its head just got stuck in the backside of the carcass the lion cub tried desperately to get free kicking and rolling around on the ground but all his efforts were in vain his head remained inside in the end after some time the lion cub used up all his strength and passed out the other members of The Pride didn't help him they didn't react at all and yet the Cub was lucky there were no Predators around ready to take advantage of his troubled situation and the other lions were slowly eating the Buffalo which means that the Cub didn't lose access to oxygen after all with what little left of the carcass the lion cub probably managed to get out moreover the witnesses said that later when they returned to the place the lion cub was gone which means he stayed alive and well after all can you imagine if during their meal the Lions had been attacked by hyenas who also wanted to eat the Buffalo the lion cub would have been easy prey too easy to live another day after all the animal world is a place that doesn't forgive mistakes like this stories like this don't just happen to lions in the Northern Territory Australia a pig was seen getting into an empty cow carcass for a snack and it got stuck there for good the pig desperately tried to free itself making several attempts to squeeze through the hole through which it had climbed inside but unfortunately no part of its body other than its head could get through some weird cosplay of that scene from Winnie the Pooh perhaps the pig just ate too much whoa whoa hold on a minute we got a pig that decided to take a bite out of a cow and we're fine with that what's that Steve says that's in the nature of things I think my world will never be the same again okay I think I just forgot that pigs are omnivores and would eat anything they come across even if one of the pigs living in the pen dies the others don't hesitate to eat it well they could maybe leave a head so the cow's carcass probably attracted the pig precisely because it was lying there uncontested who would have thought it would be a trap pigs aren't the only creatures you wouldn't expect to eat meat how about this in 2018 a pack of African wild dogs in the same Kruger National Park dared to attack a huge hippo to claim its prey and that prey was the carcass of a water bug anyway that was the caption of the guy who took this photo according to him the waterbuck tried to escape from the dogs by diving into the pond but instead ran into the hippo which emerged from the depths and killed the goat with its huge Jaws the feuding party spot over the water bucks carcass tugging and pulling as though it were light as a feather eventually the hippo withdrew into the water leaving the dogs to claim their share although hippos are known to be mostly vegetarians they sometimes make a change to their diet namely eating meat there are reports by scientists and amateur observers of hippos attacking killing and eating other animals stealing prey from predators or eating corpses including other hippos and researchers see nothing unusual about this meat eating hippos are not sick or crazy and they aren't affected by bad ecology it's just their natural behavior shaped by evolution but if that's so why don't all herbivores act this way and anyway why don't hippos become Predators after all they have giant jaws with huge teeth and a very aggressive attitude who can stand up to such an animal Evolution has adapted many hippos and other large herbivores to a plant-based diet in their intestines and the microbes that live in them are adapted to ferment and digest large amounts of plant material that means that while some herbivores May incorporate meat into their diet intentionally or not they can't eat it all the time and it's not just because of their digestion for example antelopes deer and cattle are known to eat carrion bird eggs Birds small mammals and fish but they don't have the teaser claws to catch their prey and separate the meat from the bones well imagine some cow hunting hares in the woods it just can't keep up with them it's probably going to trip during the chase the hippo is a different story it has a large body and teeth and mouth unusual for herbivores thanks to which you can hunt from Ambush and Pierce the flesh hippos have been known to eat Impalas elephants Kudos wildebeest zebras and other hippos the reason why it took scientists a while to uncover hippos meat Cravings is because of the way hippos act hippos are known to be more active during the Dark Hours making it challenging for researchers to observe their eating habits and preferences and knowing all this the crocodile's decision to eat hippocab seems well at the very least not very smart especially when they're the Cavs in a herd of 30 adult hippos naturally the poor Predator was attacked not by one or two hippos but by the whole huge herd at once I don't even want to imagine what it'd be like to find myself in a crowd of three dozen bodies each weighing 3 000 pounds on average keep in mind these bodies also have huge heads with powerful jobs the hippos managed to chase the crocodile away very quickly after which one of them grabbed it with its mouth and tossed it into the water the poor Predator had no choice but to flee this crocodile was much luckier than another one of its kin in 2009 in a similar situation the Predator was killed it got too close to a female hippo with its calves and the entire herd immediately stood up to protect them at this point the crocodile should have run away but instead it ran up the backs of the hippos perhaps it just panicked and that was the worst possible decision of all even the crocodile's Tough Armor couldn't withstand the onslaught of repeated bites after just a few seconds its lifeless body fell into the water and disappeared from View however I gotta say that usually crocodiles and hippos did not attack each other they can co-exist quite peacefully in the same area and often even share the same reservoirs the crocodiles and hippos seem to be enjoying each other's company as they bask in the sun making for a tranquil scene even the young hippos are not afraid to approach the crocodiles but how do they manage to be on such almost friendly terms the thing is even though a crocodile can attack a hippo and maybe if it's lucky even eat it it won't it's too dangerous a medium-sized adult crocodile is no match for a medium-sized adult hippo especially since hippos usually live in herds and there are many adults in such herds as a result crocodiles and hippos live together in a stalemate where both sides are fully aware of what their opponents are capable of in the wild you can't fight each other just because you want to so they try to keep out of each other's way can we assume that the crocodiles I mentioned earlier were young and not too experienced so they just didn't know that it was better not to mess with hippos or maybe they were young inexperienced and blind since they didn't see the huge herd generally speaking attacking a hippo is not the only mistake a young crocodile can make although I'm not even sure that what happened can be called a mistake in the literal sense of the word in 2012 a unique incident was filmed in Kruger National Park a crocodile got on top of a hippo and stretched out on its broad back to relax and bask in the sun even when the hippo started moving the young crocodile wasn't frightened and stayed there for about 15 minutes before getting off and I don't know how Brave you have to be to sunbathe on a hippo even though the three-ton Beast didn't seem to notice at all that it had something a bit less than three feet long riding on its back as for the crocodile it probably thought it just climbed a rock and didn't even realize just how lucky it was that The Rock was in a good mood and this animal that resembles a duck is called a coot a small waterfowl that feeds mostly on plants and small fish when it comes to protecting their young however Coots can be remarkably tenacious a few years back in the Netherlands a photographer captured remarkable images of a coot fiercely defending its chicks against a buzzard the coot didn't stop there it actually managed to drown the Buzzard right next to its nest the Buzzard is a bird of prey with sharp talons and a beak that feeds on rodents and small birds naturally it knew that it could easily attack and kill a coot but it forgot one small detail during the breeding season Coots go into Berserker mode so this proud mom acted very aggressively and managed to push the Buzzard into the water wetting its feathers even a few wet feathers was a bad sign for the Buzzard but the coot didn't stop there and drowned its opponent even after the Buzzard stopped showing signs of life it still wouldn't let it go for a while if only the Buzzard had known it had picked a bad time to hunt because breeding periods have a strange effect on many animals for Birds this time can be really difficult it can be both time consuming and exhausting to care for the chicks especially with the added stress of Predator attacks it's natural for birds to become more aggressive close to the breeding season as before they start caring for chicks they need to fight for potential mates about 15 years ago in West Sussex the locals were very concerned about the peacock's behavior and they had a good reason for that the birds were attacking cars because they saw their reflection on their surfaces and mistook it for a rival it sounds absurd and even ridiculous but the peacocks did serious damage to the cars scratching them with their claws Kung Fu style besides the birds scared small kids and woke up the whole neighborhood at night with their mating cries if you've heard a peacock you know that there's absolutely nothing Pleasant about it it's quite weird such a majestic bird has such a voice peacock attacks weren't registered in England alone for example in Singapore and places where one can find peacocks they install special road signs that read park at your own risk because if you leave the car even for an hour then you can find a couple of scratches on it and yes the reason is again the mirrored surfaces peacocks are generally very territorial creatures who are willing to defend their area from anyone even if they have to fight with their own reflection peacocks are known to be the most aggressive during their breeding or Mating Season like chickens and other birds they protect their eggs and attack everyone they see it's impossible to calm them down so if you see an aggressive peacock just stay away from it see you later

Channel: WATOP

Views: 754,890

Keywords: WATOP, Wa Top

Id: MR7wWkPw7lo

Length: 23min 37sec (1417 seconds)

Published: Sat May 13 2023