Don Williams of Bakersfield made a video of a baby desert tortoise emerging from its nest and taking a first meal of tortoise poop. A little boring, but still very interesting:
It looks as tho the poop was purposely placed to have the baby eat it.
Maybe I dont understand but is it normal for a baby to eat tort poop as its first meal?
That was so cool to see his little head popping out!
Love that video. Love that baby!
Hmmmm. I have a question.
If babies are suppose to eat poop to get their gut flora / bacteria started ....
could not getting this in to their stomachs early on contribute to hatchling failure syndrome, death later?
I ask for other species also. I mean, is there enough poop to go around and what if there isn't? what happens?
Hmm , now I know that my gut feelings about leaving those eggs in the ground & letting them emerge naturally was the right thing to do .I feel vindicated. I never even saw a yolk sac on any of them , I left them completely alone until they emerged into the light.