Red Grouse Droppings - geograph.org.uk - 1083605

Description:

Summary[edit] Description: English: Red Grouse Droppings 384735 shows the more familiar type of red grouse droppings, which contain the fibrous material from the heather which is the birds' principal food. However in order to extract the maximum quantity of nutrients, they also digest food in long blind-ended parts of their gut called caeca. These are caecal droppings, which are quite different in appearance, with a consistency which has been likened to chocolate mousse. Unfortunately these caecal droppings are also the means of propagation of the strongyle worm (Trichostrongylosis tenuis), a parasite which can severely damage the health of infected birds. Eggs excreted in caecal droppings hatch into larvae which climb to the young shoots of nearby heather plants, ready to be ingested by the grouse. Date: 18 December 2008. Source: From geograph.org.uk. Author: Anne Burgess. Attribution(required by the license)Anne Burgess / Red Grouse Droppings / CC BY-SA 2.0. Anne Burgess / Red Grouse Droppings. Camera location57° 17′ 39″ N, 2° 31′ 49″ W View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap 57.294190; -2.530200. Object location57° 17′ 39″ N, 2° 31′ 49″ W View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap 57.294190; -2.530200.