Animals Tend to be Opportunistic
By Dave Hanks
Many things that have been held to be fact, are not true at all. In my first year of school teaching I depended heavily on the text book, only to learn at a later date that some of the facts were not really facts. In our travels, we are constantly regaled to not feed birds, and other forms of animal life because it will hinder their survival in the wild. I just don’t believe this anymore. I have been around animals and observed their behavior all of my long life, and have learned that they will do whatever is necessary to survive or make their existence easier. In short, animals are opportunistic!
We have observed Western Tanagers, with their insectivore beaks, eating seeds. Now that just isn’t supposed to be. Meat eaters, such as Fox or Coyote, will often consume non-meat items. Great Blue Herons are supposed to eat small fish, frogs, and other small aquatic organisms. Much
to my surprise, I once watched for some minutes a heron, on a park lawn, carefully creeping up on a ground squirrel hole. What, I wondered, was it doing? Suddenly its head shot out and into the hole. Out it came with a large ground squirrel in its beak, which it swallowed in one mighty gulp.
Little kids will all say that bears eat honey and that may be so, but in reality (and this is shocking to some) they eat a large quantity of grass. It is interesting to watch them on a hillside grazing like cattle.
But of course, we all know that Grizzlies are opportunistic and will consume almost anything. Meat is a big favorite – their “Ice Cream food” so to speak. However, other than squirrels and such, and the new born, they are poor predators. Scavenging on the larger winter-killed beasts is common after emerging from hibernation. The Grizzly pictured is feeding on carrion at the side of a pond. When I saw the bear moving to it, I ran and hurriedly walked for about a mile (packing a heavy camera and tripod) to witness the spectacle that was to occur. Now, that is hard on a 75 year old man, but it was well worth the effort!
(Gorging upon the carcass)
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