RE: About those Piranha Bugs - LOOOOONG (Scavenger vs. Predator)

B Lin>Not really.  It implies that they are really good scavengers. 
Flesh 
eating beetles have been used for a long time at museums to prepare 
skeletons and they aren't predators, just really good scavengers.

Scavengers eat things already dead.  Predators kill things and eat them.
 
Simplistic, but applicable in this case.  The bugs killed and ate the 
humans.  Sounds predatory to me.

>Sharks are really good predators, but unless you have sufficient fat 
>content, they won't eat you.  They might bite to take a taste, but
unless 
>you are of sufficient caloric density, they won't waste additional time
on 
>you.  That's one reason so many people survive shark "attacks", the
shark 
>was merely tasting and didn't bother to follow up on someone who tastes

>like wood and styrofoam or didn't have enough fat to make it worthwhile
for 
>a followup.  Being a predator does not automatically imply that they
will 
>always attack and eat things down to the bone.  Vice versa, just
because 
>something eats flesh to the bone doesn't necessarily imply a predator.

It does if it was the something that killed the flesh in the first
place.

Brian B2

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