Interesting...Are you sure it was pelicans? Perhaps seabird specialists in this list may want to correct me, but pelicans, like many other seabirds, ingest the fish they catch and then regurgitate back at the nest to feed their chicks. So if this unfortunate bird was being fed by other pelicans, it must have been through regurgitated fish. Which will save the bird, but won't be too appealing for us at first sight. Perhaps the islanders had found a way to make ceviche or fish soup that tasted good anyway. Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Schmidt Ocean Institute Postdoctoral FellowOcean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA) 1420 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 USA Tel (772) 467-1600http://www.teamorca.orghttp://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTorres
> Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 10:56:09 -0800 > From: [email protected] > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Animal behavior Altruism Merciful birds > To: [email protected] > > Ecolog: > > Here is an example of such behavior. I'll appreciate comments and references. > > On August 15, the Santo Tomás came to a medium-sized island they called "La > Asunción," after the Ascension of the Virgin Mary. Nubbled with sand and > gravel, the island looked made of plaster. The patina, it turned out, came > from the excrement of pelicans. > > Captain Peguero and Father Ascensión took a scouting party ashore. They found > a pelican flapping one wing. The other was tied to its body. Although it > couldn't move, piles of sardines lay around its webbed feet. Father Ascensión > realized that "as he could not catch them by reason of his captivity," other > pelicans had brought the fish, "so merciful are these birds." > > Ascensión also realized that the trapped bird was a native trick for fishing > without getting wet. Once pelicans had brought enough, natives would leap > from a bush, chase the birds away, and "obtain sufficient fish without great > labor." > > Ascensión released the bird. > > > > Here's a link to the (secondary) source: > http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/oct/26/unforgettable/ > > > > WT > > > > PS: My apologies to the individual with whom I corresponded several months > ago on this subject; I can't find the correspondence in my files, and I don't > remember his or her name.
