The Circle of Life

These very white objects in the creek bed caught my eye. As I got closer, I realized that they were the bones of some small animal. These bones are probably the vertebrae of a rabbit. Reach around to your back with your hand. Do you feel the bones going up and down the center of your back? Those stacked bones are called vertebrae (ver-teh-bray). These stacked vertebrae make up your spine.

This rabbit was probably eaten by a coyote. You may think, "How sad :( " But producers, and consumers are all connected together in the food chain. The bunny rabbit (consumer) ate grass (a producer). The coyote (a consumer) ate the bunny. All living things must die, so the coyote will eventually die. The FIBs (consumers) will decompose the body of the coyote. They will turn it into soil. The grass needs soil to live. The rabbit needs the grass. The coyote needs the rabbit. The FIBs (fungi, insects, and bacteria) need the coyote. This IS the circle of life. It goes on and on. If the coyote did not eat rabbits and mice, squirrels and rats, there would be too many rabbits, mice, squirrels, and rats running around. So nature has a way of keeping itself in balance.

I was taking pictures up so closely to the rabbit bones, at first I did not notice a much bigger bone off to the right. This looks like a rib bone. Put your hands over your heart, now go down and around your chest and back. Do you feel the bones that curve around your chest to your back? Those are your ribs. This could be the rib bone of a medium sized mammal. I am not sure which one. Off to the right of the rib was another set of bones. These bones are a couple of vertebrae attached to a broken rib.

These bones are proof that the food chain is working. The circle of life keeps just the right amount of animals in an ecosystem. These bones also are proof that different kinds of animals still survive within walking distance of apartments, a gas station, and a supermarket. And that is a good thing.

What would happen if there were too many dogs in the world? Too many goldfish? Or too many snakes? Or too many flies? Or too many sparrows?

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