Not really. It implies that they are really good scavengers. Flesh eating
beetles have been used for a long time at museums to prepare skeletons and
they aren't predators, just really good scavengers.
Sharks are really good predators, but unless you have sufficient fat content,
they won't eat you. They might bite to take a taste, but unless you are of
sufficient caloric density, they won't waste additional time on you. That's
one reason so many people survive shark "attacks", the shark was merely
tasting and didn't bother to follow up on someone who tastes like wood and
styrofoam or didn't have enough fat to make it worthwhile for a followup.
Being a predator does not automatically imply that they will always attack and
eat things down to the bone. Vice versa, just because something eats flesh to
the bone doesn't necessarily imply a predator.
--Binhan
> -----Original Message-----
This is also assuming that 'stripping to the bone' is not merely a defensive
reaction. Like a hive of bee's swarming and stinging. They might eat and
excrete dirt like an earthworm...
David
> -----Original Message-----
B Lin>Not really. It implies that they are really good scavengers. Flesh
eating beetles have been used for a long time at museums to prepare skeletons
and they aren't predators, just really good scavengers.
Scavengers eat things already dead. Predators kill things and eat them.
Simplistic, but applicable in this case. The bugs killed and ate the humans.
Sounds predatory to me.
> Sharks are really good predators, but unless you have sufficient fat
> like wood and styrofoam or didn't have enough fat to make it worthwhile
It does if it was the something that killed the flesh in the first place.
> David Rodemaker wrote:
> This is also assuming that 'stripping to the bone' is not merely a
Seems like a lot of energy to expend on defense when just biting for pain is
so effective and much more efficient for so many other animals. I could be
wrong, but the original description really seemed to indicate that these
were predators.
There are two issues here - attacking for defense and consuming for
food. If the only goal was defense, then a single bite or sting might
be effective - you are just trying to deter the opponent from doing what
he is doing. Stripping a person to the bone is resource gathering - it
is far more than is required to deter someone.
This type of behavior might be reflex - that these insects automatically
swarm and collect as much food as possible when it is available. If that food
becomes available during a defense maneuver, so much the better for the hive
since less energy is required to transport the food home.
Plus, the orignal report said "millions" of them - if you had a million
needles and a needle gun you could probably "eat the flesh" off someone's
bones. So even a single bite per insect would lead to the effect that all
their flesh was simply shredded off, not consumed.
--Binhan
> -----Original Message-----