Crows can eat almost anything that they find in a dumpsite, if you ever passed through a dumpsite then you can understand what am talking about. In today’s post, I will be sharing what I found when I researched whether they can eat dead animals.
Do crows eat dead animals? Crows are classified as carrion birds since they eat dead animals or carrion which includes roadkill, dead birds, and dead crows. They are classified among a group of birds called carrion birds. Crows can also kill other crows, eat roadkill, and eat spoiled or rotten meat.
Their omnivorous nature allows them to eat all sorts of food, crow’s favorite food includes dog and cat pellets, unsalted nuts, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and seeds, plus other meat.
Did you know that crows do copulate with a dead crow? Well, now you do.
Why do Crows Eat Dead Animals?
The main reason that makes crows eat dead animals is that they are classified as scavengers or carrion birds.
A scavenger is any organism that eats dead organisms that met their death from causes other than predation, which could be a dead animal, plant material, or refuse.
Scavaging is not limited to carnivores alone, even herbivores practice scavaging. However, most of the animals classified as scavagers are normally carnivorous in nature.
Being a predator a crow will either eat what it has freshly killed, eat carrions or even snatch other predators’ prey especially when they are in a group.
Crows are predators to a number of animals such as squirrels, bats, other birds, rodents, and insects.
Importance of Crows eating dead animals to the environment
Animals that eat dead animals that they have not killed themselves such as crows are very important to the environment since they help with ‘cleaning’ the environment.
Scavengers from a very vital part of the food web of any ecosystem. A food web is a description of which organism eats which organism.
Organisms in a food web are classified into three major groups known as a nutrient or trophic levels.
The first trophic level is called autotrophs and is composed of organisms that can make their own food such as plants and algae, while the second trophic level called herbivore and is composed of organisms that consume autotrophs as plants and algae.
Omnivores, scavengers, and carnivores make up the third trophic level and eat both animals and plants alive or dead.
Autotrophs are simply called producers due to their ability to make their own food, while omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores are called consumers since they consume the producers.
Crows together with other scavengers play a very crucial role in the food web because they rid the environment of dead animals or carrions.
Scavengers will break down these dead animals into nutrients that are later released back into the ecosystem and consumed by producers and the cycle continues.
Some birds such as vultures are entirely scavengers and will rarely hunt for their own food but rely on carrion.
Most birds that are scavengers such as vultures have weak beaks and talons, this is because they do not need to hunt.
Plus the flesh that they encounter does not need tearing, they are also bald to prevent carrying bacteria in their feathers that may cause infections.
Crows on the other hand have a beak and talon that are adapted for eating various foods such as seeds, nuts, vegetables, and fruits plus carrions.
How does eating dead animals benefit crows?
We have already established animals that eat dead animals are called scavengers right?
Well, being a scavenger has its benefits when it comes to survival. While animals that are restricted to one particular diet find it hard to survive when their particular diet is in short supply.
Animals that have a wide range of diets can survive easily. When one source of food is wiped out or out of season they can easily get by with another source of food.
This fact alone has made crows survive in different ecosystems from their natural ecosystems. For instance, the American crow in its natural ecosystem survives on mice, nuts, seeds, and eggs.
However, as industrialization has encroached on its natural environment the American crow has moved into the urban areas where a high percentage of its food is made of roadkill.
Do crows eat roadkill?
Yes, crows do eat roadkill, crows such as the American crow’s largest diet are composed of roadkill in developed areas where they cannot get their normal diet of mice, nuts, seeds, and eggs.
Roadkill is a term used to refer to animals that have been killed by motor vehicles on the road. Crows will devour any roadkill that they come across.
Do crows eat bones?
While crows will just about everything, bones are where they draw the line. Crows will not eat bones at all. They may scrap the meats off the bones but they will not the bones themselves.
The bearded vulture or Lammergeiers are some of the birds that have been known to eat bones. Rather than eating meat from dead animals like other vultures, bearded vultures eat bones.
They normally fly with the bone to a great height and drop the bone among rocks, once the bone breaks they will then eat the bone marrow from the bone.
There is no crow that has been observed to practice this behavior of eating bone.
Do crows eat other dead crows?
Yes, crows will also kill and eat other dead crows.
Crows do fight amongst themselves either crows from the same family or from outside the family.
Fights between crows of the same family are normally not lethal. However, fights between crows of different families can be quite lethal even leading to death.
Fights between crows of different families take place when they are fighting for territories, food, or mates.
Crows have also been observed to copulate or have sex with dead crows, a fact that has been proven by research.
Will crows eat dead birds?
Yes, crows will also eat other dead birds.
Crows also fall into the category of birds known as carrion birds. Carrion birds are defined as birds of prey whose part of their diet is composed of dead animals such as birds. In fact, there is a type of crow known as the carrion crow.
Can crows eat spoiled and rotten meat?
Yes, crows will also eat spoiled and rotten meat as long as the meat is not poisoned as this can be toxic to the crow and may end up killing it.
Therefore, instead of feeding spoiled and rotten meat that has been poisoned bury it instead.
Summary
Being scavengers crows are excellent eaters of dead animals such as carrions, roadkill, and so on. In fact, this trait has helped crows adapt and live in areas that most other animals have found hard to adapt to and live such as urban centers. The scavenging nature of crows and other animals helps keep the environment clean.
94% of pet owners say their animal pal makes them smile more than once a day. In 2007, I realized that I was made for saving Animals. My father is a Vet, and I think every pet deserves one. I started this blog, “InPetCare”, in 2019 with my father to enlighten a wider audience.