this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
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Photo by Mehmet Derya

White Faced Scops with some long rictal bristles!

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[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is still really cool to think about, because I never really thought of an animal actively seeking out another as prey not only as food but also for other properties like chemicals that that animal may have ingested. In this situation is seems like an edge case if it ever did happen, or just as you said a happy surprise. Though that does make me wonder if there are any other instances of this in other animals and also how often it might be un-recognized by researchers. Lots of food for thought there.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

The closest things I can think of off the top of my head would be:

Ants farming aphids

Deer eating bones

Carnivorous plants sort of came about the same way if I'm remembering correctly as well.

We put out mineral blocks for the wildlife, and they'll keep coming long after the block is physically gone and lick at the ground.