Dystopian or survivalist? Inefficient urban waste management unwittingly nourishes some bird species

Egrets and black kites have found an unending source of nourishment in our collective failure to manage waste
Dystopian or survivalist? Inefficient urban waste management unwittingly nourishes some bird species
Egrets seen sitting on a waste dump site in Delhi.Photographs by Vikas Choudhary
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“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change” — when Charles Darwin made these remarks in the 19th century, the British evolutionary biologist wouldn’t have imagined a world where anthropocene changes in environment would force other species to change because the humans simply won’t change their ways.

Landfills, those giant mounds of waste that are a monumental reminder of our failure in managing our waste, have now become a part and parcel of some bird species.

These waste dumps have now become a routine spot in these birds' daily navigation manoeuvers.
Black kites swarm over rotting waste in the national capital.

Some species like egrets and black kites have found a regular source of nourishment in the organic waste that is disposed off inefficiently.

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