Saturday, February 16, 2008

Starling Falls Prey To A Macaque

I came upon this macaque with a dead starling in its hand. I've watched documentaries of chimps eating chimps and I also know that monkeys do include meat in their diet. However, it was an interesting scene to witness first hand and I had to stay to catch it all.
The monkey sat on a palm frond plucking off the feathers of the dead starling, sending feathers flying everywhere. After plucking off the feathers around the belly area, it proceeded to rip the bird open disemboweling it. He then tossed most of the bird to the ground. Initially, I thought it was sharing its spoils but the other monkeys that were below just ignored the raw pieces of meat that were on the ground.It then takes what is left of the bird mainly the spine with head still intact and rib cage, and samples it. After the initial bite, it tossed the piece away too.

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