Eagle Repeatedly Throws Bat into the Sea to Torture It; Do Animals Enjoy the Thrill of Killing?

Generally, in the harsh natural world, predators do not abuse their prey, although they will kill prey for survival, this is different from murder, not for pleasure.

However, recently some interesting scenes have been photographed by researchers. A white-bellied sea eagle caught a fruit bat, and the eagle could directly kill the bat for a meal, but it did something unusual, it threw the bat into the sea and repeatedly fished it out, which looked like torturing the bat.

Source: Marcus Chua

Although this research team was not specifically studying animal behavior, they came to Island in eastern Malaysia to study a small forest bat that eats insects. After observation, they came to the nearby beach to look for another fruit bat (Pteropus hypomelanus) to pass the time while waiting for the ferry.

Fruit bats resting on the banks of Island

At that time, the research team was chatting with the boss of the resort about the whereabouts of the fruit bats.

Suddenly, a white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) flew into the forest near the shore, and the bat was pulled from the tree. The bat swarm screamed. Immediately, the white-bellied sea eagle grabbed its trophy and flew it to the sea.

However, the eagle released the bat a few football field distances away. This unusual action made the researchers on the shore look at each other in amazement. Initially, the researchers also thought that the eagle had no hunting experience and lost the meat it had in hand. But its subsequent actions surprised everyone.

The white-bellied sea eagle also hunts in pairs or families. There was another white-bellied sea eagle circling in the sky nearby. When the fruit bat fell into the sea, the two white-bellied sea eagles waited nearby and closely monitored the struggling bat in the sea.

After 20 minutes of tenacious swimming, the poor bat, aided by the waves, was about to climb onto the beach to escape. Just then, a white-bellied sea eagle dived and grabbed the bat again, throwing it back into the sea.

The white-bellied sea eagle caught the bat and threw it into the sea. After several rounds, the wet bat was slumped on the beach, exhausted.

Later, the research team's ferry left the island, and they didn't observe the subsequent situation. However, the bat should have been unlucky and died with psychological and physical torture.

The exhausted bat crawling on the beach, Source: Marcus Chua

But the question is, why did the two white-bellied sea eagles repeatedly torture the bat instead of eating it directly?

It is known that repeatedly playing with a prey takes time and energy, from a hunting perspective, it is meaningless. However, the researchers' view is exactly the opposite, which is a clever hunting strategy.

White-bellied sea eagles are excellent opportunists. They belong to large birds of prey, and their wingspan can reach 2 meters when fully extended. This overwhelming body size and agile physique make them excellent hunters.But as a coastal bird, they don't just focus on hunting at sea. So their food includes not only fish and turtles and sea snakes, but also land animals such as frogs, lizards, rabbits, and bats.

If hunting is not successful, they will look for various carrion to eat, not to be stranded on a tree.

Therefore, from the white-bellied sea eagle's perspective, the world is full of opportunities, as long as they feel it is feasible, they will target various animals. For example, there is a story that a white-bellied sea eagle hunted a penguin.

The penguin first knew what flying felt like. Source: John Prats

Sometimes, when they encounter birds in their hands, the white-bellied sea eagle will attack and take the bird from another bird's claws. There is also an observation that the white-bellied sea eagle can snatch food from a dolphin's mouth, which is a true hero among birds.

In addition,

White-bellied sea eagles have very sophisticated hunting strategies, and they will use different methods to hunt different prey.For example, the white-bellied sea eagle's recipe includes many animals with hard shells, such as turtles and crabs. Although they don't have the dexterity of humans, white-bellied sea eagles are very clever, they fly to high places to drop turtles and crabs, letting the prey be smashed to pieces and eaten. From this point of view, the white-bellied sea eagle's series of actions towards fruit bats is not so strange.In fact, for the white-bellied sea eagle, fruit bats are also a relatively dangerous prey. Firstly, the size of the fruit bat itself is quite large, even if it is grasped by powerful eagle claws, the fruit bat's survival instinct will make it struggle fiercely, which is not easy to control. Furthermore, the fruit bat has sharp teeth, and if it is in desperation, it will easily injure the hunter. If directly bringing the fruit bat back to the nest, it is an even more dangerous thing.

Therefore, the white-bellied sea eagle chose to repeatedly throw the bat into the sea. After all, long swimming and paddling will consume the bat's strength, making its aggressiveness decrease, which is more conducive to the white-bellied sea eagle's killing and reducing its own injury risk.

And the research team generally agreed that the white-bellied sea eagle torturing fruit bats did not have the horror they imagined, it was not like humans for entertainment abuse. They were just trying to have a hearty meal.

Of course, talking about 'animal hunting' this topic, domestic cats are often mentioned. Those familiar with cats should know that cats don't always kill mice directly, but rather indulge in 'caught and released' and 'released and caught' games, which is not to give a thrashing.

Some people think that this is also a hunting strategy of cats. When cats attack mice, they are also worried about the mouse's self-defense threatening their own safety.

After all, in the matter of hunting, domestic cats prefer small animals that are not very defensive, while small animals are the best targets for stray cats. Research also shows that the threshold is about 250g, any animal within this range, cats will basically give up the target, river water doesn't offend well-water.

Or worried about losing the sheep and wool, cats in the hunting process will be more cautious, often need to repeatedly try to suppress, first through throwing, catching and poking to injure the mouse, then launch a fatal bite.

However, completely attributing this to a hunting strategy is unlikely to be agreed upon by most people. Unlike the white-bellied sea eagle hunting fruit bats, cats would make a fatal bite on a small mouse, which is a very simple thing for cats.

And some cats even carry mice in their mouths, and repeatedly release and catch. Moreover, cats that don't have lethal animals such as cockroaches also appear to have the same repeated caught and released situation, just like humans' playing.

In fact, hunting is a natural instinct of cats, and cats' hunting behavior can be broken down into a series of fixed instincts, driven by sniffing, tracking, crouching, chasing, capturing, killing and eating, etc.

But hunting and eating are related but independent behaviors. Although hunger can increase a cat's hunting desire, hunting is not entirely driven by hunger. The hunting of carnivorous animals may not be concerned about satiety, but for a cat that is not hungry, their hunting desire still exists. When encountering external stimuli, this hunting instinct will be released, such as when encountering violent animalsMaxwell

Wikipedia entry: White-bellied sea eagle, Surplus killinghttps://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/bats/island_flying_fox.htm

Jake Buehler.Researchers See Eagle Torturing Bat by Repeatedly Dropping It in the Ocean.gizmodo.2020.2.19

Sheema Abdul Aziz, Marcus A.H. ChuaGopalasamy Reuben Clements.Catch and release: Novel predation strategy by white-bellied sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) on island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) in Peninsular Malaysia demonstrates flying fox swimming ability.Bat Research & Conservation.201912164-66

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White-bellied sea eagleSurplus killing

https://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/bats/island_flying_fox.htm

Jake Buehler.Researchers See Eagle Torturing Bat by Repeatedly Dropping It in the Ocean.gizmodo.2020.2.19

Sheema Abdul Aziz, Marcus A.H. ChuaGopalasamy Reuben Clements.Catch and release: Novel predation strategy by white-bellied sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) on island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) in Peninsular Malaysia demonstrates flying fox swimming ability.Bat Research & Conservation.201912164-66

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