All you need to know about scavengers from their crucial role in the ecosystem to how they find their food <\/p>
Scavengers are often stigmatised and their names have negative connotations. We call people \u2018vultures\u2019 if they wait to exploit vulnerable individuals, and those who \u2018laugh like hyenas<\/a>\u2019 are loud, foolish or hysterical. But despite these stereotypes, scavengers can be useful.<\/p> Scavengers are an organism that feeds on dead organic material. Whereas a predator kills prey, a scavenger consumes matter that\u2019s been discarded or died from predation, injury, disease or old age. Some species are \u2018obligate scavengers\u2019 that survive by scavenging, others are \u2018facultative scavengers\u2019 that scavenge when necessary.<\/p> Everything from body parts to faeces! Many animal scavengers are omnivores. They aren\u2019t picky eaters and thrive on human activity \u2013 waste in rubbish bins feeds foxes<\/a> and raccoons<\/a> (nicknamed \u2018trash pandas\u2019), and cars make roadkill for crows<\/a>.<\/p> But most scavengers prefer specific items from nature\u2019s menu of dead delicacies. Some dung beetles<\/a> are herbivores that eat partly-digested plant material in poo, for instance, others are meat-eaters that eat flesh from carrion.<\/p> Carrion-eaters need good eyesight<\/a> and\/or smell to detect a dying creature or rotting carcass. Odours of decay \u2013 normally the signal that a meal could cause sickness \u2013 repel most animals but will attract scavengers from far and wide.<\/p> In habitats such as the bottom of the ocean, carrion provides a rare bounty. Though dead whales <\/a>occasionally wash-up on shore, most sink to the seafloor. Here, animals devour soft tissues before Osedax<\/em> worms drill for oily nutrients that their symbiotic bacteria turn into organic molecules that not only fuel the worms, but ultimately the whole ecosystem<\/a>. On land, carrion is a more frequent (albeit unpredictable) food source: vultures<\/a> can follow a wounded animal, hyenas can bully cheetahs<\/a> off the prey they chased.<\/p> No! Contrary to popular belief, only two of the four living species, brown and striped, are primarily scavengers. Both mainly forage for dried flesh from a large carcass but will supplement this with small vertebrates, fruit or insects<\/a>.<\/p> The other species have contrasting diets: the dog-like aardwolf eats termites<\/a> and the spotted hyena is an apex predator with a complex social system. Spotted hyenas usually hunt alone, but a clan can bring down zebra<\/a> or even buffalo.<\/p> All but one of the 23 vulture species are obligate scavengers, but they don\u2019t have a common ancestor and consist of two separate groups. Old World vultures belong to the same family as eagles and hawks, while New World vultures include Andean and California condors and often have a superior sense of smell. <\/p> Through convergent evolution, the two groups independently acquired similar features for carrion feeding and their adaptations include broad wings to soar vast distances and find food, plus a bald head to keep cool and to stop feathers being covered in flesh.<\/p> Different species have distinct feeding niches. In Africa, for example, the lappet-faced vulture tears off tough hide and ligaments with its powerful beak; the white-backed vulture and R\u00fcppell\u2019s griffon (the world\u2019s highest-flying bird<\/a>) gorge on internal organs; hooded and white-headed vultures pick scraps; and the bearded vulture drops bones to smash them into pieces small enough to swallow.<\/p> By stripping a carcass, vultures speed-up the process of decomposition that\u2019s then continued by microbes, insects, worms and fungi recycling whatever the birds leave behind. Vultures are also keystone scavengers because as they circle a dying creature, they lead other animals to food. <\/p> But their stomachs are acidic enough to destroy deadly pathogens that can be transmitted (from leftover carrion) by other scavengers, such as rats. Thanks to the speed and efficiency with which the birds clean carrion and help prevent the spread of disease, African vultures have earned the title \u2018soap of the savannah\u2019.\u00a0<\/p> More by JV Chamary<\/p> top image: Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) and white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) on a carcass \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n All you need to know about scavengers from their crucial role in the ecosystem to how they find their food <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":34638,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/scavengers-what-are-they-why-are-they-important-and-just-how-do-scavengers-find-their-food-all-your-questions-answered-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"All you need to know about scavengers from their crucial role in the ecosystem to how they find their food","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/34637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What are scavengers?<\/strong><\/h2>
What do scavengers<\/strong><\/strong> eat?<\/strong><\/h2>
How do carnivores find carrion?<\/strong><\/h2>
Are all hyenas scavengers?<\/strong><\/h2>
Are vultures scavengers?<\/strong><\/h2>
Why are vultures especially important?<\/strong><\/h2>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"