Condor Watch Talk

"life expectancy" of a carcass

  • inaspin by inaspin

    Is there an estimate on the average duration of a carcass? Will the predators ignore it once it is skin and bones?

    Posted

  • myraf by myraf scientist

    Well, it depends on how big the carcass is and who is eating it but as long as there is something there besides bones, some scavenger (Raven anyone?) will probably keep picking at it. The field crews try to swap out the carcasses before they get to be just skin and bones to keep the condors coming back. However, sometimes the field crews have to wait until they can get more still born calves, etc. from the dairy farms that donate them so there could be photos with just bits of bones or even no bones at all.

    Posted

  • stonepenny by stonepenny

    if it helps, I've seen many pictures with bits of carcass strewn about with ravens as 'clean up' crew - that's usually a 'raven' picture, with around 15-20+ of them, and no other animals.

    Posted