Fishing is time-consuming
business, so diving birds in Mexico's Baja California are frequenting the local
"sushi conveyor" instead. That conveyor comes in the hulking
shape of the region's reigning big fish: the whale shark. The crafty
cormorants have figured out that the giant sharks provide an endless
supply of remora sashimi.
In the clip, a diving cormorant
yanks furiously at a remora fish attached to the skin of a passing whale shark,
before finally pulling its meal free. It's a truly remarkable sighting –
in fact, this footage filmed back in 2012 may be the first (and only) example
of its kind. According to marine biologist Dr Simon Pierce, who has done
extensive work on whale sharks, experts have been excitedly discussing the
video since it started making the rounds online earlier this week.
"It's super cool!" he
says. "I don't think it's been documented. I've never seen or heard
of it previously, but that particular cormorant certainly knew what it was
doing. Smart bird!"
No comments:
Post a Comment