Sunday, February 13, 2011

Landfill Scavengers

Many animals make their homes in landfills, adapting to the living conditions that come along with it. From birds, to rats, raccoons, and even bears; they all feast and make a living in local landfills. Lately, there are many stories in the news around the United States of people abandoning domestic animals, such as cats in landfills. Although scavengers can live off one, cats can not. They have critical limits that make the condtions unlivable (Thetimesnews.com).

As you can imagine, there is tons of food for scavenger animals to feast off of, so none of the species are getting starved due to more aggresive animals. It is very common to see a "food web" present in a landfill; some call it the circle of life. Many ants, worms, and other insects live in them. In warmer climates, reptiles may be present, feeding off of these small insects. The birds eat the insects and reptiles, and larger animals such as raccoons, coyotes, bears, etc, eat small rodents, and insects. When any of these animals die, the insects feast off of the carcus (eHow.com). It is more common for rodents such as rats and mice to be present in inactive landfills than active ones, due to the constant activity and movement.

Thetimesnews.com, Shelter accused of leaving live animals in landfill, December 29, 2010. http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/leaving-39732-live-pauls.html

Priddy, Brenda, The food web of organisms found in a landfill site. July 23, 2010. http://74.6.239.185/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=animals+in+landfills&xa=dY7.TjmoTocfr07.x78bKw--%2C1297740225&fr=yfp-t-336&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=animals+in+landfills&d=4510931311921613&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=80d81ec1,56cd6b31&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=pAoV6KruzM_aitU0_FHOCg

3 comments:

  1. It's crazy to see what you can find in landfills around the country. Like this article stated, a lot of landfills have become homes to animals due to their need for food and shelter. It would be interesting to see all the different types of scavengers that are found in these land fills.

    http://www.berryandvalecontracting.ca/landfill_services.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. My dad was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease at 56.his symptoms were shuffling of feet,slurred speech, low volume speech, degradation of hand writing, horrible driving skills, right arm held at 45 degree angle, but now he finally free from the disease with the help of total cure from ULTIMATE LIFE CLINIC, he now walks properly and all symptoms has reversed, he was having trouble with balance especially at night, getting into the shower and exiting it is difficult,getting into bed is also another thing he finds impossible.we had to find a better solution for his condition which has really helped him a lot,the biggest helped we had was ultimate life clinic they walked us through the proper steps,am highly recommended this www.ultimatelifeclinic.com to anyone who needs help.

    ReplyDelete