STRAFING THE BLOWFLY
HOW NATURE CIRCUMVENTS THE PEST CARRION BIRDS THEIR SCAVENGERS Mr. lo Souef, superintendent of tho I'aronga Zoological Park, Sydney, is; a naturalist of high standing, ilo'is of opinion that tho introduction of a care-iully-selected species of vulture and tho marabou stork would greatly assist in tho light against tho blowfly pest. The few parts of tho dead burty ot an animal in /which tho larvae of the blowfly might lind a lodgment, such a<? tho brain caso and tho hoof, would bo open to the attack of the parasitic wasp, which is hampered in its work-by tho unbroken skin and the mass of material under which tho pupa live. The action of theso three allies would prevent the blowfly from breeding. . ■ _ "Anything that would destroy carrion in which the blowflies principally breed," Bays Mr. lo Souef, "becomes of importance- to Australia. If there were no carrion there would bo very few flies. In. view of tho great development of tho blowfly pest in Australia the whole qnes-' tion requires sorious consideration. Let me begin at the beginning. Previous to tho introduction of the domestic animals and tho rabbit in Australia, tho native animals that died were disposed of by the dingoes, dasyuro3, eagles, and crows, and the flies themselves were checked by the , native birds; Tho balnnce of life has been completely altered by the advent of civilisation, the introduction of millions of sheep, cattle, horses, and other stock, the enormous increase •of the rabbit, the killing of tho nativo animals, the clearing of tho land, and the oonsequont destruction of .so many native birds. \Tho immense number of animals that die in the ordinary course of events, and which of necessity must be loft whero they- lie, hna given the carrion flies an unchecked field, and allowed them to increase out cf all proportion to tho material order of things, when tho counter-actions of nature are in operation." Wild Animal Life. Mr. lo Souef points to the conditions, existing in Africa, whero the balance of lifo has not been interfered with. Central Africa, perhaps, is tho most heavily stocked area of any country. It Kerns to carry as many wild animals as Australia carries in tho way of domestic ' Btock. These are principally zebra, buffalo, antolopo, elephants, pigs, monkeys, and rodents. Tho natural incroaso of these animals is fuiriy well kept in check by a number of predacious beasts, including lions, leopards, hunting'dogs, hyaenas, servals, and foxes. The numbers of animals which dio by accident or naturally, uro quickly disposed of by the oarrion birds, principally vultures and marabou storks. These birds aro constantly patrolling tho eky, Pying bo 'hi»h that'they cau generally,bo detected only by good glasses; biit as euroly as any animal dies they aro down upon it in dozens, and in iv few hours' there ere only tho bones loft. "I pointed out in an article contributed to' the 'Pastoralist Review , that the .value of the vulture and marabou stork is recognised by tho Governments of British East and South' Africa, whero they aro on tho absolutely protected lists," said' Mr. le Souef. "Tho maraTiou lias become scarce in South Africa lately owing to its being hunted for its plumes; but the Union Government haß Bent to Central Africa to procure a number of them for liberation in' order to restock the country. During tho great rinderpest outbreak a few years ago, tho carrion birds gathered in thousands, followed the course of the plague, and ata . |up the dead unimals. ■ - ■ "Mr. A. B. Peroivnl, Chief Game Eanger, being anxious-to see how the -wild Came was faring, states that his men .ivero out at daybreak looking for dead specimens; but tho' vultures nearly nl-'i woys found the -carcass first; and the hien were seldom ablo to reach it before it was stripped. ''. "I examined some animals after • the vultures, 'had .finished with, them, .'and. found that tho only place the flv could breed was in the , brain case, and sometimes in the hoof of the remains." Towers of Silence. The primitive abattoir arrangements of parts of India and Africa rely on birds to clear away the offal. In Calcutta and Beira, Mr. le Souf saw instances of this. ■» Thero were generally a fow marabou Btorlcs living in friendly relations with, the wandering native cattle owners, and' on the large cattle farms whero stock is killed. These birds eat up every ecrap of meat that they can find. He often saw a bird on the Government Stork Farm at Naivasha, visiting the killingshed regularly. ' ' • The most striking instance of a 'definite uee being made.of carrion birds is in the famous Towers of Silence, in Bombay, where the Parseo sect, numbering imwards of 100,000, dispose of their dead. The towers are really immense- septic tanks, with a grating on top on which the bodies are placed. These bodies are fit once eaten up by about IQO vultures thnt live in the vicinity. When the soft paiis are gone the bones fire dropped into the centre of the bottom of .the tank, where desiccation is completed by bacterial action and the effluent is clean watex.
'Through the courtesy of the trustees
and under tho guidance of Mr. ,J..M. Doctor, I visited this place and found the towers situated in iv boautiful garden," remarked tho naturalist, "in tho best suburb of Bombay. Everything was spotlessly clean, and there was no nuisance caused; but without the aid of tho birds the scheme would be impossible, becnuso of tho decomposition and. tho pliigue. of flies that would arise. "Many varieties of vultures Hvo in different parts of the world. They range in size from t'<e condor, of America— which is the largest flying bird—to the little Egyptian vulture, about tho size of a hawk. Ono African speciee lias been reported to attack sick animals, and the Egyptian vulture is 6aid not to bo averse to live cliiekens; but tho great majority lire purely carrion caters and lire counted of cconomib value to the conntries in which they li\,\ They do not increiw beyond the available food supply. Th? Governmont might think it worth while to send an expert to eurofully collect evidence of the vulture and the marabou stork in India, Africa, and South America."
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180817.2.66
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 282, 17 August 1918, Page 9
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,045STRAFING THE BLOWFLY Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 282, 17 August 1918, Page 9
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.