We generally use dustbins for trash or solid waste in our homes, schools and workplaces, where waste in the form of papers, organic waste, metals, glass, cloth, etc. are dumped to maintain environmental integrity and ensure cleanliness and sanitation.
Environmental ethics demands that we keep the environment clean and green for a healthy living and to do away with germs that cause serious diseases due to contamination. In this context, some conscientious people play environmentally-responsible roles in keeping the environment healthy by observing cleanliness, planting plants, dumping waste properly, avoiding littering, reusing and recycling materials, reducing less waste, etc.
Having said this, there are some birds and animals that are also very environment-friendly in terms of keeping the environment clean by consuming the dead fleshy and boney materials. Such consumers are known as ‘scavengers’, which have also been referred to as ‘bio-bins’ because these species are serving as natural dustbins to gulp down the fleshy remains mostly left from predators or the trash human beings throw as garbage. Some scavengers are vertebrates such as vultures, hyena, crow, kites, while some are invertebrates such as crabs, beetles, flies, etc.
Vultures
Vultures are the most notable and specialised scavenging birds that help clean dead and decaying animals from the environment. Vultures are full-time true scavengers that survive on carrion. They soar up in the sky with a wing span of about six feet and can easily locate a carcass from a great height because they have very sharp eyesight.
Hyenas
Hyena is the most noticeable scavenger among mammals. When in a group, they would consume large dead animals very quickly, so much so that they consume their bones with the help of their stout teeth and their powerful stomach easily breaks down bones and digests them.
Bears
Bears are powerful omnivorous animals, but are also good scavengers. They are also environment-friendly animals and though they feed on fish, vegetation, fruits, nuts, berries, they would also search for carrion and dead remains of animals.
Jackals and foxes
Jackals and foxes often scavenge. They eat carrion, especially in winter when food availability is a problem. They are nocturnal and are able to hunt also. With the help of their strong teeth, they can tear apart a carcass. Generally, they eat small mammals, birds, and reptiles.
Crows
Crows are not true scavengers, but they scavenge when they happen to find a dead animal. They find such food in the form of road kills, such as dogs, cats or dead bodies of donkeys, goats, chickens, cows, etc., thrown in the fields. Crows primarily feed on nuts, seeds and insects, but would also scavenge. They are more often seen around human habitation, garbage dumps and trash, looking for meat contents.
Insects and sea scavengers
Many insects are scavengers and they help in clearing away rotting flesh and vegetation. Ants eat almost anything. Some ants are scavengers that eat dead plant materials and meat, besides other food items and liquids.
