Slugs aren't usually considered
predators.
August 29, 2016, 5:28 p.m.
Death by slug: It's not a good
way to go, but that's exactly what's happening to baby birds in Poland.
Researchers there have witnessed a surprising pattern of large slugs of the
Arion genus crawling into the nests of birds and eating the hatchlings alive,reports New Scientist.
A trail of slime is the only
evidence remaining from such attacks. The behavior is so unusual that the
birds' parents don't even try to defend them, possibly because they don't see
the slugs as a threat until it's too late. One parent bird was even witnessed
incubating a slug feeding on its dead chicks.
“The actual moment of slugs
predating on nestlings isn’t easy to observe,” explained Katarzyna Turzańska
from the University of Wroclaw in Poland, one of the researchers in the study.
"You are more likely to come across the traces of the ‘tragedy’: dead or
alive nestlings with heavy injuries, covered in slime – and often slugs’
droppings found nearby."
The researchers' work appeared in
the Journal of Avian Biology.
Turzańska and colleague Justyna
Chachulska have been researching this behavior since they observed it for the
first time while studying whitethroat birds near Wroclaw, in Poland. Although
predation by slugs has been recorded before across Europe, almost all of these
reports pertain to bird species that nest close to the ground. That giant slugs
would seek out treetop-nesting birds as food is a surprise, however. It appears
unprecedented.
Slugs in the Arion genus can grow
quite large, and they'll eat almost anything. While most slugs spend their time
dining on leaves and rotting plants, they have been known to devour earthworms
and other smaller slugs. Decomposing animals are certainly on the menu as well.
And, apparently, now they've expanded their appetite to include live chicks.
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