Mark Smith is a wildlife photographer who captured a head-scratching moment in nature. Smith says he enjoys watching osprey hunt fish, and he often shares videos of them doing normal osprey things that seem really incredible, like pulling large fish from the ocean. A recent video shows an osprey carrying a pufferfish (all puffed up, of course). Smith wonders, what’s the osprey’s plan? That’s a toxic catch.
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“I’ve seen Osprey carry pufferfish many times and they will often drop them,” Smith writes in his Instagram caption. “The real question is this. Can an Osprey eat a pufferfish and survive or are they only toxic to humans? I don’t know?!?! I do know that the pufferfish fish gets puffier longer the Osprey carries it on to its final destination.”
Pufferfish are not slightly toxic, they’re really toxic. That’s because puffers have a neurotoxin in their bodies called Tetrodotoxin (TTX)—one of the most potent neurotoxic poisons found in nature. Some animals do have adaptions that allow that to eat puffers, but, like Smith, we’re not sure if ospreys are on that list or not.
We’re guessing this osprey took the puffer for a ride and then noped out and dropped it, but we’ll never know for sure.
Watch an osprey take a toxic pufferfish for a ride here:
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