Are you Gonna Eat That?

I'm not a Sports Geek or anything close to it, but even I know there was a large sporting event of the football species last Sunday. In years past, I have used the Super Bowl as an excuse to buy all sorts of my favorite junk foods and consume them in large quantities, because it's the American thing to do. We humans eat all sorts of strange things. One example is a favorite of some Broncos fans: rocky mountain oysters. (If you have no idea what they are, let me put it this way...you can only get them from a bull.) Some people eat unusual things to be daring, others for health reasons, and some just like the taste of unusual foods. There are some strange diets among other animals as well, and the stories behind their dietary choices are just as fascinating as the foods themselves.

Grebe: Eats Feathers
Here's another fact about grebes that I didn't mention last week; grebes eat their own feathers. The adults even feed their own feathers to their young, starting at just a few days old. Why would

they do such a thing? Feathers have no nutritional value and they cannot be easy to swallow. The reason is because of the fish they eat which make up the main part of their diet. A grebe's gizzard and stomach are not very well adapted to crush and digest fish bones. It is thought that by swallowing large amounts of feathers, the feathers not only pad the stomach from the pointy fish bones, but may also slow digestion, giving the stomach more time to digest the bones before they pass into the intestines. 


Vampire Squid: Eats Dead Stuff, Plankton, and Poop
Let me answer your first question. The vampire squid was not named for its dining habits, but rather for its resemblance to Dracula: it has skin that can appear black, eyes that can appear red, and a "cape" of skin between its arms. And what is unusual about this squid's diet is that it is the only cephalopod (the group that includes squid, octopuses, cuddlefish, and nautiloids) that is not a predator. The vampire squid lives in waters too deprived of oxygen for its predator relatives and has adapted to the harsh conditions by taking the easy road for finding food. It uses two filaments, up to 40" long and equipped with sensory cells and stiff hairs, to catch what is known as "marine snow" as it floats through the water. Marine snow is essentially the garbage of the animals that live in shallower water, containing dead animal parts and excrement, with some plankton thrown in for good measure. When oxygen is at a premium, you need to conserve as much energy as possible, and the vampire squid has found a way to do just that. Why waste all that energy hunting food as a predator when you can wait with open arms (err, filaments) for food to come to you?

Vampire Moth: Eats Blood
Now here is an animal that lives up to its name. In 2008, scientists discovered a new species of moth in Siberia that feeds on blood. It appears to be a close relative of moths that feed on fruit, and so scientists are now trying to discover why the divergence to a new food source. At the time of its discovery, only males of this moth have been found to feed on blood, so it is suspected that the blood is used as a gift to females to win over mates. If you want to see some truly cringe-worthy footage of vampire moths drilling their proboscises into willing victims, then click the video below.

I think I need to go watch some cat videos now to get that image out of my head.

Cave Cricket: Eats its Own Legs
Like the vampire squid, the cave cricket lives in a harsh environment. Living your whole life in a deep, dark hole, one doesn't come across a food source on a regular basis. To avoid starvation, cave crickets will chew off their own large hind legs as a kind of cannibalistic renaissance fair drumstick. It's a sacrifice that can only be made twice, as the consumed leg does not grow back. Some cave crickets and their relatives, camel crickets, can be found in basements, including my own. Here too, food may not come that easily (unless they want to eat lint, 'cause that's about all I have to offer down there) so even urban crickets may resort to eating their own limbs.

Looks like this guy got hungry.

We may think the diets of grebes, vampire squid, vampire moths, and cave crickets are unusual and a bit unsavory, but then again they may wonder why we eat bull testicles. I think I'll stick with my nachos, pizza, and popcorn, thank you very much.

A Very Grebe-y Birthday

Being The Nature Geek, I in turn have many geeky friends. One such friend, a bird geek, celebrated her birthday last weekend. Today I shall honor her birthday by sharing the cutest pictures I can find of her favorite bird of all time: grebes. Let us begin our d'aww-worthy journey of swooning and learning about these fabulous birds, shall we?

There are 22 species of grebe found worldwide, seven of which are found in North America. The horned grebe (seen above) is The Grebe Geek's favorite. Gaze upon its fluffy "horns."

Grebes are diving birds with their legs placed far back on the body for optimal swimming and diving abilities. This western grebe is showing off his leg, which features individually webbed toes. Grebes and other water birds are known to sometimes extend or wave a leg, it is thought perhaps as a way to dry or warm it. I just think he's showing off by swimming with one foot.

Even if you don't know much about grebes, you may have seen footage of the spectacular courtship rituals of some species. As I often like to do, I'll let Sir David Attenborough take it from here in the video above.

And what is the result of successful grebe courtship? Adorable grebe chicks. I hereby dub them grebelets. 

Riding around on your parents' backs is not just an easy way to get around, but a method of protection from predators lurking below, who like to make an easy meal out of the young of water birds. 

I think this chick is just pushing it.

I had to put in one last chick picture. They are too stinkin' cute.

Grebes use their amazingly adapted legs and webbed toes to dive up to 90 feet (think of a nine story building!) to find their food. Grebes with longer beaks like this great-crested grebe, found in Europe, eat mostly fish. While grebes with shorter bills, like the pied-billed grebe eat mostly small aquatic invertebrates.

Apparently someone forgot to tell this pied-billed grebe that he eats mostly small invertebrates.

Well there you have it, a photo journey into the world of the grebe in honor of my friend, The Grebe Geek. Grebe Geek, I hope you had a wonderful birthday and totally pigged out, pied-billed grebe style.