Why are we scared of animals?

This rat snake scaled the neighbor’s wall and lay there long enough for me to do its photoshoot.

When I sent these photos to my contacts on Whatsapp, majority of them sent me gawking emojis in fear. So why do we fear snakes?

Animals attack other animals primarily for food, protecting their offspring, self protection and in rare cases rescuing a fellow animal from its attacker(s). Snakes do not prey on humans so they will never attack us unless for self protection and protecting their eggs. Snakes live in human settlements for two reasons – to prey on mice and for dark and cold areas inside and around our houses to lower their body heat and digest their food. We should be more wary of urban cats and dogs than snakes because they can chase and bite us. Wild cats like tigers and leopards prey on us but attack us only if they are able to drag our body away from the spot because the smell of fresh blood and meat attract other carnivores. Lions hunt as pride which is why they do not show this behavior.

But there is an oddity in us that is not in animals – fear. In nature there is no emotion called fear. Animals running away from their predators is not in fear as we commonly believe. They run to save themselves and their only purpose is reproduction. Nature imposes population control so to stay as dominant species animals need to reproduce as many as they can. We are the only beings on the planet that live in fear of its own kind. We have created the emotion of fear in animals by encroaching and destroying their habitat and hunting them for the purpose of hurting them. Cows graze on wetlands which are snake infested but snakes rarely bite them and move away from them. Snakes bite us in self protection because we tend to kill them at every possible opportunity. Snakes have poor eyesight so they rely on smell and instincts to determine what is prey and what is a threat. Similar is the case with urban street dogs. Through smell and instincts they understand the ones among us who are hurtful to animals.

I was afraid of snakes for a long time because I was taught to be scared of them. Many snakes simply crawl away or warn us in different ways when we get close to them. Some don’t but they stay far away from human areas. We get into conflict with animals when we think we are entitled to walk anywhere and do anything we want. The planet belongs to all living beings and are entitled to live out their lifetimes if they survive in nature.

Exposing human ignorance about nature

Came across this social media post about a leopard and a dog getting stuck inside a toilet and the leopard choosing to not feed on the dog. What is interesting is the comments of wildlife researchers who have opined that the leopard became sad because it got stuck inside the toilet and lost its freedom so it no longer had interest in feeding. The glaring flaw here is, if this was true all predator animals would have starved themselves to death in captivity. Predators hunt prey and feed on the fresh meat. Some predators like lions leave the leftover carcass and walk away. Some felines like leopards and jaguars carry the leftover carcass and hide it to feed later. The point here is, fresh blood and flesh when in contact with air develops strong stench after some time. The stench is at the spot where the prey is killed. Scavengers catch this stench and arrive to devour the leftover carcass. If the leopard had killed and consumed the dog inside the toilet it would have been stuck in the enclosed space with the stench of the carcass. This is the most likely reason why it did not attack the dog.

Here is another social media post which tries to compare and equate predator-prey relationships in nature with capitalist exploitation. Animals kill only for food. Also, no animal kills members of its own species. Only we kill our fellow beings for a thousand reasons (which is why we have words such as murder, assassination, etc) and only we kill animals without the need to consume them. Capitalism is a human construct intended for some among us to become wealthy and powerful and exploit the rest of us. There is no exploitation and greed in nature and there is no parallel to capitalism in nature.

Social media platforms are inundated with posts in which animal behavior is being interpreted from our perspective. Our emotional side becomes dominant when we analyze most of the incidents and situations in life. This is what has created what we call as human-wildlife conflict. Tempers rise and emotions become frenzied every time tigers and leopards attack us, elephants enter our area and cause destruction, wild boars destroy crops and dogs, snakes and jackals steal our poultry. Question is, are animals intentionally trying to harm us? This is where we need to think from their perspective and understand their situation. The fundamental need of animals is food and water. When there is enough food and water available, animals will reproduce and multiply. When food and water becomes scarce they will not reproduce and focus only on self sustenance. To be a dominant species in nature’s ecosystem, animals have to reproduce and maintain a sizeable population. Animals adapt to changes in nature’s ecosystem to survive which is why every animal’s diet consists of a range of different items. Many animals have become omnivores and consume both plants and meat because of this reason. The exploding human population has been forced to encroach into forests thereby destroying the habitat and food sources of wild animals. We have all grown up being taught and in the belief that wild animals will die if forests become extinct. We completely missed the factor of adaptability. To survive and to reproduce, wild animals are adapting to us which is why they are attacking us, our crops and our poultry. There are always degrees of risk involved in hunting in the wild. Prey animals can cause significant injuries to predators such as zebras breaking the jaws of lions by kicking with their hind legs during hunting chase. We, our crops and poultry are easy and risk free meals so wild animals are adapting more quickly to all this. Contrary to popular belief, population of many wild animals is going to increase in due course of time.

It is this ignorance of nature and the lack of understanding of the ability of animals to adapt that has prompted this minister from my home state (Kerala) to call for the culling of tigers to control their population. There is also discussion going on to control the population of wild elephants and monkeys. As long as food is available animals will continue to reproduce and they will counter any forceful reduction in their population through more reproduction. We still do not want to admit that it is the destruction of the habitat of wild animals because of our burgeoning population that is causing human-wildlife conflict. We have already created many types of imbalances in nature’s ecosystem, the most deadly one being burning fossils and releasing all the carbon trapped in them into the atmosphere. Human-wildlife conflict is creating another imbalance where some animals are going to adapt to us and the ones that cannot are going to become extinct. We have been tugging at nature’s sleeves and pushing it to the tipping point. A global natural catastrophe is becoming increasingly imminent. What we are doing is suicidal and we are going to achieve nothing but self destruction.

Birding fantasy – When a Amur Falcon grappled with a Black-winged Kite

October to February of every year are the most important months for the birding community. Birds in the Northern Hemisphere embark on their epic migration to escape the onset of the frigid winter season and in search of food. They start migrating after the end of their breeding season so they lose all their breeding plumage and develop nondescript plumage that can help them blend into the surroundings during their journey. The birding community in my hometown eagerly awaits every year for the migrating birds to arrive in large numbers at the vast swathe of wetlands which is home to paddy cultivation at the end of the monsoon season. Before cultivation begins the wetlands are filled with water birds and waders that give way to raptors and passerine birds when farming starts. The birding community is out there in full force during these months as there are new birds to be seen and identified when they take a breather to rest and feed and also to witness any dramatic events like raptors such as Eagles and Harriers hunting snakes and other small birds.

I am part of a birding community on social media which is specifically focused on birding in the wetlands and in the monitoring of activities at the wetlands. Amur Falcons are famous for their yearly migration from their far off breeding grounds in Siberia through the North East side of India to the southern part and eventually to the African continent. Although huge flocks are seen in the North East very few are seen in Kerala, my home state at isolated places. So the birding community went ballistic about a month back when 4 Amur Falcons arrived at the wetlands not very far from where I reside. 3 of them left abruptly but one female stayed back. Birders thronged to the location to see it and get some good shots. Couple of days back, a doctor in the group asked me if the Falcon was still there. I was told by other group members that the Falcon seemed to be injured and not in good health so it would not be wise to disturb it. But the doctor and I decided to go today and get a few distant shots. But I was completely unprepared for what I bore witness today.

When we reached the location a few birders were already there and were trying to feed the Falcon with worms in order to attract it to the ground from its perch on the high electric line so that they could get good shots.

After spending some time with them we moved ahead and came across a Black-winged Kite. Suddenly the Kite swooped down into an area of tall grass. When one birder went to check on the Kite to see if it had hunted a prey he was shocked to see the carcass of a Peregrine Falcon lying on the ground. The Peregrine Falcon had arrived a few days back and seems to have got electrocuted on the electric line today morning. We decided to shift the carcass to an open space nearby so that we can photograph the Kite consuming it.

As the Kite descended on the carcass, the Amur Falcon flew and landed near the carcass. What happened next blew our collective minds away. What we get to see on National Geographic and Animal Planet transpired right in front of our eyes. The Amur Falcon engaged in a fierce duel with the Kite for a couple of minutes. Pound to pound the Falcon is smaller than the Kite so it was riveting to see them spread out their wings on the ground and go at each other menacingly. The Kite eventually decided to abandon the carcass and flew away. I was under the assumption that the Falcon engaged with the Kite for feeding rights but the Falcon left the carcass and flew away. Amur and Peregrine Falcons share habitat during migration. They may have some sort of ecological balance with one another. Such information may get passed on genetically along with the knowledge of migration. This could be a possible reason for the Amur Falcon to fiercely protect the carcass of the Peregrine Falcon and not consume it.

These were easily some of the finest moments in the last 8 years of my birding life. Every time I go for birding I fervently hope to see and click birds in flight to capture the wonderful expanse and colors of their wings and birds hunting their prey. What I saw in these couple of moments today has trumped everything I have experienced till now.

From the vaults of nature – A story of the vanquished

Through the course of human civilization, we have always sung and written about the best and the victorious among us. History is all about the tales of the heroes who braved everything and emerged victorious. No word is spoken about the ones who lost because we have been taught to believe they are the villains or the bad guys or the ones who needed to lose or die. Nature teaches us that may not be the case every time. So here is a story of the one who fought valiantly and lost.

Over the years, during my walks through the wetlands I have heard cries coming underneath the water and from the bushes spread across the land. First time I heard I thought it was a kitten stuck somewhere, so similar was the cry. Local people at the wetlands told me it is the cry of toads that have been caught by snakes. In 2018 I saw the sight for the first time, a toad being swallowed by a chequered keelback. Today, I saw the sight for the second time. But this time, situation was amply different. Wetlands have been dug up for paddy cultivation and the snake had bit into the side of one of the legs of the toad. Keelbacks are non-venomous, so they have to hold on to their prey at all cost and then slowly swallow it.

The snake hadn’t grabbed the toad properly and the toad knew this so in order to shake the snake off the toad decided to jump into the water on the side of the muddy area. The toad managed to drag the quite hefty snake along with it into the water.

It could also be that the snake chose to go along with the toad because keelbacks live in muddy waters and they need not worry about losing the toad in the water.

What needs to be noticed now is the surface of the water. That is oil spilled from the machineries used to till the mud for farming. It is not just pesticides and insecticides, pollution is affecting land and farm produce in many different ways. The toad was forced to jump into this polluted hell to escape from the snake. If it had been able to shake off the snake it could have gone under the water where it could have been safer.

But even in this oily hell the snake did not let go off its vice like bite on the toad’s leg.

Finally the toad seemed to become tired and gave up on its struggle to escape from the snake’s mortal bite.

I know everyone would think that the toad was afraid of death that’s why it was trying to escape from the snake. Fear as an emotion exists only among us and not in nature. Survival is a natural instinct and all animals in nature try to survive so that they can reproduce and their species can maintain their dominance in nature’s ecosystem. All animals try to maximize reproduction and nature controls population through diseases, predator-prey relationship, etc. The toad here was only trying to survive. If there was fear in the animal world, they would have also learned to build houses to protect themselves. Birds build nests to raise their young then why don’t they build nests for them to live? Because all animals follow nature’s fundamental law of survival of the fittest and they seem to know death is part of nature.

Human fixation with building houses – an evolutionary perspective

I was travelling by train when I saw the chandelier like hanging nests of Baya Weavers for the first time & I was absolutely spellbound at their sight. It has taken me a few years to finally get their shots but it has been worth the wait. Ever wondered why building houses is so important for us? Why owning a house is an important parameter in marriage? Primates such as apes and gorillas build nests but are rudimentary when compared to the complexities involved in the nest building process of birds. Male Baya Weavers build partial nests before starting to woo females who in turn inspect the nests before agreeing to mate. Then the males go on to complete the building of the nests. One important aspect females apparently look for is the distance of the nest from the branch or the pole to which it is tied. More distance means the chicks are safer from predators like reptiles and can be protected better. So males that make better choices about where and how they build their nests and can make stronger nests wins over the females. Owning a house is an evolutionary trait which we believe will help us raise our children safely. Our evolution is mind boggling because we have inherited traits from so many different beings. We diverged from nature when we started cutting down trees and destroying nature to build our houses which requires ability and intelligence nature has never given and will never give to any living being because it is a simple self destruct button. This is where human creation theory truly trumps over human evolution theory.

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Human destruction of nature – a historical and religious angle

I was on my regular morning walk yesterday looking to photograph anything interesting happening in nature when I suddenly heard a short whirring sound which sounded familiar. I looked around and saw a huge mounted electric transformer on the side. It was the deathly sound of a bird getting electrocuted. Because of overhead transmission cables and transformers kept in the open, house crows keep getting electrocuted all the time.

The crow that was with the one that died was in total shock and was making different kinds of sounds. Helplessly I stood there for a while wondering why do we create and construct things that we know will harm animals but do not care. So many different types of birds die every day because of our fishing nets alone. Why do we have scant respect for nature and animals?

When we look back at our history, we start from the point where we were afraid of everything we did not understand. We do not know when and why but we started worshipping natural elements like fire, rain, thunder and lightning and animals by creating Gods for them. The most probable reason is lack of scientific understanding of natural elements and the higher sensory abilities of animals. This is what became known as paganism. Though we started cultivation and raising livestock with time, in the name of worshipping all the Gods, we conserved and protected nature.

But pagan cultures developed deep flaws with time. To understand and relate to Gods, we started reducing Gods into human forms which resulted in idol worship. Emperors and Kings started calling themselves as Gods on Earth who could communicate with the Gods that were being worshipped. All of these eventually led to the evolution of monotheism, the concept of one God. Monotheism, introduced by Christianity became dominant with the advent of Islam and spread all over the world. As the world gradually moved away from pagan culture, it has had a significant impact on our perception of nature and wild animals.

Then, there is this critically important part in the Bible.

Genesis 1:26-28

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion (7287) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it (3533): and have dominion (7287) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

First of all, the first 5 days of creation as explained in the Bible does not have scientific merit. The Earth and everything we see about it has evolved over billions of years. Then, God says Let “us” make man in “our” image, after “our” likeness. So “God” apparently is made of blood, muscle and bone and looks just like us. Note the usage us and our. So it was not just one God. There were others who were equally powerful as the God and powerful enough to create us. This is a question mark over the concept of one God espoused by Christianity.

Then comes the most important part of giving us the control (dominion) over the planet and all other living beings. To have such control, we needed to possess far greater intelligence than all other living beings on Earth. We have to notice here that we have been given the ability to control only the living beings, not the ability to control nature and natural elements. This could be the reason why we cannot understand natural disasters in advance and cannot escape from them. To understand nature through animals may be the reason why we were given control over them. It may have been left to our interpretation and could be the decisive factor in determining the survival or extinction of our species. We cannot destroy nature and other living beings and survive on the planet. We were given intelligence so that we can understand this as we evolve. This is why by destroying nature and wild animals we are setting the premise for our own extinction.

While I do not intend to state that the Bible is the reason why we are destroying nature and killing off wild animals, the shift from pagan culture to monotheistic belief has definitely had it’s influence on how we see and treat nature. With the tremendous growth we have achieved in science and technology especially in the last few decades, we need to urgently start looking at nature through the lens of logic, commonsense and rationale and understand ancient texts from the scientific perspective.

The dilemma of feeding wild animals when we shouldn’t

So often, we come across messages explaining why we should not feed wild animals. I am not talking about animals in forests. All animals that live in nature are wild. We are even told not to feed animals in zoos. The primary culprits among animals who have the propensity to look for food from us are monkeys. Here are a few illustrations. The problem with these pictures is, they are used to generalize and create opinion against feeding all wild animals. In the case of monkeys, they are primates like us and we still have similarities with them in the food we eat. They have adapted to our food habits quickly. But why are House Crows, Red Whiskered Bulbuls, Red Vented Bulbuls, Greater Coucals, Asian Koels, Common Mynas, Rufous Treepies and Yellow-billed Babblers coming to my home to eat rice and chapathi (Indian bread) every day? They started coming looking for scraps and that’s how we started feeding them. Everybody who is interested in understanding life and its evolution should watch the English movie Lucy. Though it is a fantasy sci-fi movie, how single celled organisms became multicellular ones and went on to become complex beings has been wonderfully explained. When habitats are available and food is in abundance, animals procreate and try to increase their population. When habitats decrease and food becomes scarce, animals choose self preservation over procreation. This is how crocodiles and turtles seem to have survived when almost all other animals got wiped out after the asteroid strike 66 million years back. There are plenty of trees in the area where I stay which provides the birds with enough habitat to nest and reproduce. But animals don’t go away from their habitat area in search of food which is why they have evolved into eating different types of food within their habitat area. Now what if we do not feed animals in the wild? Our encroachment into nature continues unabated as our population keeps swelling. Earth comprises of 30% land mass and 70% water so we and all other land animals are jostling for space in the 30% area. Cutting down trees and destroying forests have two effects on animals. 1) Their habitat areas and food sources dwindle and consequently 2) competition for both increases, not just between animals of the same species but between different species. If this destruction is allowed to continue, most of the animals will be forced to go into self preservation mode. When we decide not to feed them, this can lead to their starvation and death. Extinction of animals do not have to happen by a cataclysmic event alone. Steady loss of habitat and food sources can create the same result over a period of time. Man-eating tigers do not walk for hundreds of kilometers from forests into villages and cities to feed on us. Tigers usually prefer to stay away from humans. We have encroached so much into forest land that our living area has overlapped with their habitat and older tigers are finding us easy kills. The consequences of our actions do not end here. Before religions took shape, we used to follow pagan culture and fundamental to it is nature worship. Hinduism is a pagan culture and not a religion which is why it has animal Gods and animals depicted as vehicles of Gods. Monkeys have adapted to living with us and can be seen in large numbers across cities in India. Because Hindus worship monkey God Hanuman, monkeys have no threat from people which has allowed them to procreate in large numbers. Similar is the case with the Karni Mata temple, also known as the Temple of Rats in Rajasthan where rats are revered and fed daily and thousands of rats live. Nature is a system that keeps the population of every being within it under control through food chain and diseases. With the knowledge of agriculture, rearing livestock and treatment of diseases, we exited from nature’s food chain a long time back. This is why our population has exploded. The population of monkeys in Indian cities and rats in the temple has similarly increased because their population is no longer controlled by nature’s food chain. But diseases still control population to a certain extent which is why in spite of all medical breakthroughs thousands of humans die every year. Same is the case with monkeys and rats. By adapting to our society and lifestyle, monkeys have also become vulnerable to dying in traffic accidents, just like stray cats and dogs. When animals have enough food in nature, they will have no interest in the food we eat. The only way to make this possible is by giving them back the land we have taken from them and let nature restore their habitats and food supply. Pictures and illustrations like the ones above are being wrongly used to demonstrate why we should not feed animals. They should be used to educate people on why nature is important, how badly we have destroyed nature and its ecosystem and highlight the need to control our population.

Animal migration is not just a journey in search of food

 

Every year at the fag end of the extended monsoon season, birds start migrating to the wetland areas in my hometown. They come from far and near and more species of birds have been coming with each passing year, especially after protection of migrating birds has been strictly imposed.

Why do birds migrate?

The common answer is for food. Seasonal changes in the areas they are endemic to forces them to leave their homes in search of food. This is true but not entirely. There are more troubling questions here. Why do they travel so far? But what is more incomprehensible is their mortality rates. As they cross oceans and continents, many die due to predators, diseases, injuries and many other reasons. Why travel so far which exposes them to higher mortality rates? Why no self preservation?

All the above questions have changed my understanding of animal migration in general. To understand the mortality rates during migration, we need to look what happens after migration. Migrating animals return to their home regions and what they do next is reproduce. Procreation is the reason why migration is so important. The weaker ones in the herds and flocks have to die. Some will die due to predation, some by diseases, some due to injuries and eventually the ones that return will be the strongest ones, physically and genetically. Migration is a natural population filter. The farther they travel the better the filter works. I came across a research on Arctic Terns flying all the way to Antarctica and back during their migrating season. The fascinating part was, they travel a longer distance during their onward journey but return by a faster route with less stopovers. Then it all became clear to me. The return journey is all about preserving themselves – feeding for enough fuel to burn to reach home so that the stored fat in the body is not depleted and reaching home quickly with less mortality to begin reproduction.

It’s the same with the now renowned yearly migration of Wildebeest across the Masai Mara plains and river, known as the Masai Mara migration. Of the 1 million odd that migrate, just 1-2% die. Even if consider the worst case scenario and take the total mortality rate to be 5%, that’s just 50,000 deaths.

So why such a population filter?

Because of Nature’s rule of Survival of the Fittest. Every living being within nature’s ecosystem is being continuously tested. Only the ones that survive predation, diseases, injuries and natural disasters need to survive. Nature retains only the best. From eating their own infants to starving them to death to pushing the chicks outside the nest so that only the ones that fly survive, nature’s filters are cruel but keeps it’s ecosystem free of genetic diseases. This is why there is only nurturing and no love in nature. This is one critical difference between us and them. We suffer from so many genetic diseases because of the complex emotions we have for our children.

But there is a filter inside our mother’s womb which gets activated as soon as we are conceived. A series of tests are run inside the womb to determine if the zygote can be harmful to the mother or to any zygotes conceived in future by the mother. This is critical since the umbilical cord connects to the blood stream of the mother through which DNA of the child is passed on to the mother which can cause health issues to the mother or to future children. This is why the first 3 months are critical for the mother as well as the baby, why the mother’s health weakens and why chances of abortion are highest in this time frame.

Nature seems to work in mysterious and incomprehensible ways but it appears so because of it’s order and discipline. Specific mating & migrating seasons are why we get to photograph them in different times in different colors, plumage and behavior. If animals were to photograph us based on mating and migrating seasons they would get thoroughly confused because we don’t have any of both. We can have children any time and we travel wherever we want when we feel like. There is no order and discipline in our lives. The fact that we do not adhere to most of nature’s laws is the reason why we are no longer part of nature’s ecosystem.

An interesting example of nature’s evolution through brood parasitism

I am part of a local birding community group on WhatsApp since 2018 and it has been a very interesting couple of years. I have come across so many people from different walks of life in different parts of my home state settled all over the world with so much knowledge and keeps sharing new information and insights every day.

Yesterday, I came across this unusual picture of a female Asian Koel holding the egg of a crow in it’s beak. The photo was taken by Vijayan Mappat who is from my home state (Kerala) and is settled in another city (Pune). I immediately realized that it’s a rare moment because we will not normally get to see birds holding eggs in their beaks unless they are brood parasites. This is an evolutionary adaptation where such birds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. Once the female host lays her eggs, the brood parasite bird would sneak in, take one egg, throw it down and lay one egg in that space. Vijayan saw the Koel dropping the egg on to the ground. The eggs of such birds would mimic the color and size of the eggs of the host. Hosts sometimes understand a different egg and push it out of their nests so to offset this loss the parasitic birds would lay their eggs in many nests. Different theories have been put forward to explain this behavior. But I believe they evolved into this behavior primarily as a survival strategy because of possible loss of habitat and/or their nests getting repeatedly destroyed by other birds.

Nature is all about continuous evolution and adaptation for survival and camouflaging is one way animals extensively and effectively use. Most of us would find brood parasitism cruel. But this is nature’s way of ensuring the survival of some species of birds and at the same time controlling the population of the host birds. Nature is a self sustaining system and only a proper understanding of it can ensure the survival of our own species.

My quest to understand the extremely elusive behavior of Snipes ended today

I have been on the trail of Snipes for more than 2 years now. They are the most elusive birds I have come across in open areas and wetlands. The first time I saw them was in 2019 and I was able to take a couple of pictures before they vanished into the tall paddy plantations. Every time I am in their vicinity they manage to see me before I see them and fly away. I had two objectives -1) Understand how they camouflage themselves so well and why 2) Shoot their pictures when they are in flight. They fly high and fast then dive into the ground and disapper from sight. I had tried to click them multiple times and failed. I identified a particular patch of land in my birding area where I saw them every time I went there. Mornings are the best time for birding because birds are famished and will be busy looking for food so they won’t mind human presence like they do during other times of the day. After weeks of missing out because of cloudy mornings, today the sun came out. As I was walking up and down peering at the low grassland, I suddenly came across one. I am assuming that it did not notice me in time to fly away so it froze. I also went into freeze mode and started clicking pictures. After about a minute, it sensed no danger and slowly started walking around looking for food. Miraculously, after a few minutes a couple more flew out of nowhere and landed some distance away from the first one. I kept my eyes on the first one as it was foraging and as I moved around, the other two flew and I was able to finally take pictures of them in flight.

After I returned home and checked the pictures, the reason for how and why Snipes camouflage themselves so well dawned on me. When they sense danger, they crouch on the ground and the upper part of their body blends into the surroundings. But why do they crouch? Because their underbelly is white so light would reflect from their bellies and give away their location. They fly away from the crouching position itself without exposing their underbelly which was why I was not able to spot them as they took off.

One more question remained. What are they scared of? I haven’t come across any predator birds looking for them till now. Snipes are migratory birds so in all probability they are preyed upon where they come from which could be why they have developed such an effective camouflage. We assume that animal behavior is random but it’s not. Every aspect about animals and everything they do has some purpose for themselves and in nature. Birding is fascinating for me because there is so much to understand about birds and learn about nature through them. A jigsaw puzzle that has been nagging me has finally been solved.