[dolanbaker]

Strange story, it makes me wonder if the same happens in the wild, do animals change their diet to compensate for lack of nutrients.

Kenya: Cow 'starts eating sheep' on Nakuru farm
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from ... e-32428154
A farmer in Kenya says one of his cows has given up its usual vegetarian diet and started eating sheep.

Charles Mamboleo, who runs a farm in south-western Nakuru County, discovered the cow feeding on a sheep one morning, having apparently gored it to death, the Daily Nation website reports. Fresh food and water couldn't tempt the cow, and another sheep met its end the following day, the report says. "After the first incident, we thought the cow was starving, so we increased the supply of fodder and water, but it still continued chasing after sheep," says Mr Mamboleo.

While cows are herbivores, developing a taste for meat could be a sign of a nutrient deficiency, according to a local agricultural officer. "The dry season, which has just ended, has seen most animals lack minerals found in green grass," Albert Kabugi tells the site. In 2007, a calf in India's West Bengal region was filmed eating chickens. A local vet said he suspected a lack of vital minerals was also to blame in that case, noting that it could happen in "exceptional" circumstances.

[Rod_Cloutier]

Hippo's are naturally herbivores, however when their diet suffers they start eating fish. This is not a uncommon adaptation. It will make you think twice before wanting one as a pet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dec9Jb ... ilpage#t=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpRJwys ... ilpage#t=1

[Pops]

Cows regularly eat their or another's expelled placenta. Not sure how that fits in but I'd guess they wouldn't see a sheep as threatening so if they got a whiff and took a nibble ...

They can get pretty testy too, especially toward dogs (and peoples) when they have calves around but as far as chasing down a sheep like a leopard with big spots I've not seen anything like that LOL

[vox_mundi]

Deers and cows get the munchies too! Puts a monkey wrench in that permaculture thing ...

Scottish Deer Are Culprits in Bird Killings

Red deer on the Scottish island of Rum may be eating the heads and legs of live seabird chicks as a way to get minerals they need to grow their antlers.

Scientists believe this surprising addition to the red deer's diet stems from mineral deficiencies in the vegetation they eat. By munching on Manx shearwater chicks, the deer are able to get the extra calcium they need.

White-tailed deer shown to raid nests, eat eggs and baby birds, USGS reports

Pam Pietz, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in North Dakota, set up miniature video cameras that ran 24 hours a day to document the fate of grassland songbird nests, according to the USGS.

She was surprised to find deer raided as many nests as badgers, and more than weasels or red foxes.

Ah, but maybe the deer were simply eating the tasty forbs around the nest, and the baby birds just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not likely, Pietz said. She pointed to a research project in Canada where songbirds were captured in above-ground mist nets. Wild deer walked up to the nets and gobbled up the easy prey.

In the midst of her project, Pietz wondered if white-tailed deer would eat eggs as well as nestlings, so she presented a captive deer at a research center with quail eggs to find out.

"It munched them right up," she said.

Eggs and baby birds are packed with nutrients, said Wyoming Game and Fish biologist Reg Rothwell, so it shouldn't be surprising that otherwise herbivorous animals just can't resist adding them to their diets. Eggs provide high-quality protein, as well as fats, lots of vitamins including A, D and E and minerals like calcium and zinc, and nestlings are rich in fats, proteins and other nutrients.

Lal the chicken-eating cow

Include accounts of videos of cows, deers, and ...

In 1945, an elephant called Chang (kept at Zurich Zoo), killed and consumed Bertha Walt in entirety, including her clothes, shoes and handbag. I always thought that this was due to starvation, but these days I’m not so sure: Chang already had a reputation for being nasty and aggressive, and after Walt’s death he attacked another elephant and killed his keeper, Hans Rietmann. We’ve covered some of this stuff before on Tet Zoo: there are also the many occasions where hippos have been seen to eat carcasses and even to catch, kill and eat birds, antelopes and other animals. And there are instances where elephants have exhumed and eaten human corpses. (... poetic justice?)

Deer eating bird Video

[vox_mundi]

Zombie Bambi


Musk Deer
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_deer

[Pops]

Timo works for Walt Deathney's?

[vox_mundi]

Timo works for Walt Deathney's?

Mild-mannered doomer by day - illustrator of the un-dead by night? Who would have guessed?