Animal Diets…

Happy New Year!

Way down deep in the middle of the Congo,
A hippo took an apricot, a guava and a mango.
He stuck it with the others, and he danced a dainty tango.
The rhino said, “I know, we’ll call it Um Bongo”
Um Bongo, Um Bongo, They drink it in the Congo.
The python picked the passion fruit, the marmoset the mandarin.
The parrot painted packets, that the whole caboodle landed in.
So when it comes to sun and fun and goodness in the jungle,
They all prefer the sunny funny one they call Um Bongo!

Are these believable claims? The Congo presumably refers to the areas through which the Congo river flows. This would be the massive Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and a small part of Angola. The action is probably taking place in the Congo Rainforest; the second largest rainforest after the Amazon. There are hippos in the lakes of the DRC so that is plausible. I am not so confident that there could have been a rhinoceros there. Certainly not a white rhino as they are only found in southern Africa. It could be a black rhino that had wandered in from Angola I suppose.

The passion fruit picking python was probably a 4 metre long African rock python (Python sebae) as they are prevalent in the area. Their normal diet is rodents and mammals but they may have found the passion fruit whilst hunting fruit bats which is another favourite food item. But now we have a problem. The marmoset is native to South America, not Africa. They do live in the jungle but unless they were on some sort of cultural exchange it renders the entire story highly unlikely. There are African parrots, although since they are plentiful in South America it is possible that they came over with the marmoset – perhaps sharing travel costs. I am not suggesting that a single parrot (a non-migratory bird) carried the marmoset all the way on its own, but perhaps a couple of them could have carried the marmoset between them in some sort of improvised cradle arrangement made out of vines. They do eat fruit though and, of course, are excellent at painting designs on food packaging. If it is an African parrot then it might be the African grey. It doesn’t look like a grey in the advert but if it had been painting the packets then you might expect a little bit of splash.

Despite their noble claim to be free from artificial ingredients, I think that Libby’s may have some pretty serious questions to answer.

This kind of pseudo-scientific dishonesty is rife in the drinks manufacturing industry. Take the claims of this advert for Kia Ora orange drink (which was the only drink you could buy in a cinema when I was a boy).

Too orangey for crows but OK for his dog? Is he mad? You can’t give oranges to dogs. OK  they are not obligate carnivores like cats, they can survive on an omnivorous diet but really protein should be the main component. Sugary drinks are just going to lead to obesity and diabetes.

The Um Bongo advert has had a rather fantastic makeover. I am sure that the producers had the owner’s permission before spraying graffiti all over the buildings in the video. Fortunately they are buildings that French estate agents would describe as “habitable but with some renovation work required”.

Questions…

1. What trophic level does a cat occupy?
2. Which vitamin is supplied by eating oranges?
3. To which class of vertebrates do the following animals belong…
   1. African rock python?
   2. African parrot?
   3. White rhino?
   4. Marmoset?
4. Into what is protein broken down within the gut?
5. Of what hormone do diabetics have little control?