Tim- he took my word .
But this really IS a remarkable image.
I wouldn't have guessed that it would swallow the whole thing. What a powerful digestive system it must have.
Charlie
Absolutely awesome shot!! You captured a neat behavior and the shot is super sharp!
I'm trying to figure out how they deal with swallowing these whole - surely the stomach cannot digest such a large shell I knew birds swallowed tiny snails and such for mineral supplementation but have never seen this!!
EDIT: I just did a little research. It turns out that ducks like eiders and scoters who's primary dietary item is mussels, also very commonly swallow whole mussels. In fact this how they always do it. I guess since I'd never seen it, I never pondered how these mussel eating ducks would open a mussel - well they don't!! It turns out that their muscular proventriculus (in layman's terms this is a part of the gizzard - the same part that is used by raptors to crunch up the rodents they swallow whole) actually breaks the shell up, allowing for digestion. I would suppose that thick parts of the shell are passed, since they would be difficult to digest, but unsure on this part.
Pretty interesting, and thanks Tim for posting a photo that prompted me to learn something new!
That's one of the best catches you could hope to see. The outside of the duck's gizzard is about the same size and shape as that clam, so how does it work out that problem? The scaups around here eat periwinkle snails, about the size of M&Ms with peanuts.
Feb 13, 2013 at 09:32 AM
David Leask Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
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I knew birds swallowed tiny snails and such for mineral supplementation but have never seen this!!
