EDUCATION | BIRDS
The Eagle That Only Eats Snails
Once they’ve latched onto a snail, the kites are equipped with unique tools to dispatch them.
Eagles are impressive creatures. They’re majestic, high soaring, cold-blooded killers that strike fear into the heart of any animal smaller than them, be they mammal, reptile or fish. But there is one eagle that has made the rather odd choice of having an all-escargot diet, and no, it isn’t even French.
Meet the Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis).
Just from looking at its lethal beak and long talons, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking they were a fearsome predator. But no, it doesn’t want a bar of chasing anything down that can move faster than a metre an hour. What a lazy-ass bird, I hear you say.
Well, I would invite you take a step closer to me so I can slap you in the face. How dare you! Because not only are its snail prey incredibly crafty and hard to catch, but these kites are also one of the most specialised hunters getting around.
Now, they are especially picky eaters. They’re diet is almost solely made up of Apple Snails. These are large ping-pong ball sized snails that live in the wetlands of Florida and Central America.
And while they may be slow moving, they also spend almost all their time underwater. You may have noticed kites aren’t exactly aquatic bird. This presents something of a challenge. They can only catch the snails when they emerge from there watery homes, and they only do that to breath, mate and lay eggs (you know, the big three). The kites either sit atop a perch or patrol the waterways on the wing, searching for the well-camouflaged snails among the reeds.
Once they’ve latched onto a snail, the kites are equipped with unique tools to dispatch them. Their long talons are perfect for wrapping around the smooth and slippery surface of a shell, and their specially hooked beaks are exactly what they need to pry all the slimy meat out of the hard-to-reach nooks. They basically evolved an escargot fork on their face.
Like many animals that evolved to specifically hunt one form prey, the kites are incredibly depended on their Apple Snails for survival. During the early 2000s the snail population in the Everglades collapsed after people started mucking around with the natural water flow. The kites’ numbers likewise plummeted. They have recovered a little in recent years, and they’ve also found a new home in Central America where the Apple Snail was introduced in the1980s as food for fish stock. For you see, wherever the snail goes the kite follows.
With any luck, now that they’re being better looked after in the US and have found a new foraging grounds in Central America, these incredible birds with an odd diet will be with us for a good while yet.
