Eco system has a very fine balance – Nature has predators and scavengers – humans may or may not like, but they do exist.
பழமொழிகள் ஒரு சமுதாயத்திலே நீண்ட காலமாகப் புழக்கத்தில் இருந்து வரும் அனுபவக் குறிப்புகள்; அவை சமுதாயத்தினரின் அனுபவ முதிர்ச்சியையும், அறிவுக் கூர்மையையும் எடுத்து விளக்குவதாக அமைகின்றன.
வாழ்க்கையில் சிலரின் ஆரோக்கியமற்ற செயல்களால் சில மனிதர்களின் மனம் பாதிக்கப்படலாம். அவ்வாறு அந்த செயலை புரிவோர் தன்னலத்துடன் தங்கள் தேவைகளை மட்டுமே கருதி, மற்றோரின் கஷ்டங்களை புறந்தள்ளுவர் என்பதை விளக்கும் ஒரு பழமொழி :
எருது நோய் காக்கைக்கு தெரியாது
எருது தன் நோயை நினைக்கும்; காக்கை தன் பசியை நினைக்கும், அது மாட்டிற்கு ஊறு விளைக்குமா என்பதை பற்றி காக்கை கவலைப்படாது !!.
History is a mute witness to how human-made, near-extinctions of certain animals / birds has altered complex multiorganism dynamics connected with a top predator. In several ecosystems, over-hunting has left once-top predators unable to regain a foothold in their previous ecosystems. The sea otter is an apex predator, a carnivore at the top of its local food chain. The southern sea otter population off the U.S. California coast dropped from more than 10,000 in the 1700s to fewer than 100 by the early 1900s. North American participation in the global fur trade heavily influenced this near-extinction. The damage to the ecosystem has taken its toll.
When the otter population dropped during the fur-trade era, it initiated a cascade of events that altered the region’s food web. Populations of sea urchins and other marine invertebrates, natural prey to sea otters, skyrocketed. This bloated population of invertebrates ate away whole forests of kelp to support themselves.
People often see the beauty forgetting the balance of nature, scavengers may not be the ones that attract. However, the research community has become increasingly aware of the critical role scavenging plays in the stability of ecosystems and food webs. By consuming dead animals, called carrion, scavengers remove dead carcasses from the environment—a valuable service that goes well beyond environmental aesthetics.
If left to thrive in a carcass, bacteria and other pathogens may spread within the local environment and infect other animals, including livestock and humans. Scavengers eliminate these harmful substances from the environment, mitigating the spread of disease that may otherwise impact local food webs and potentially harm human health and the economy.
Vultures, which exclusively eat dead animal carcasses, are particularly effective at removing pathogens and toxins in the environment because they rapidly consume carrion before it decays, and their stomachs contain an incredibly potent acid that destroys many of the harmful substances found in dead animals. Nat Geo states that following the decline of the Indian vulture population, the population of feral dogs expanded rapidly—and with it, the incidence of rabies, an incredibly deadly disease.
Crows are the best known scavengers and here is one pecking the cow
With regards – S Sampathkumar
6.2.2024
