Wildlife Words – scavenge

Carnivores are meat eaters and many find meat through predation. There is another method to eating meat, and that strategy is to:

scavenge

Pronunciation: \ˈska-vənj, -vinj\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): scav·enged; scav·eng·ing
Etymology: back-formation from scavenger
Date: circa 1644

transitive verb

1 a (1): to remove (as dirt or refuse) from an area (2): to clean away dirt or refuse from : cleanse <scavenge a street> b: to feed on (carrion or refuse)

2 a: to remove (burned gases) from the cylinder of an internal combustion engine after a working stroke b: to remove (as an undesirable constituent) from a substance or region by chemical or physical means c: to clean and purify (molten metal) by taking up foreign elements in chemical union

3: to salvage from discarded or refuse material; also : to salvage usable material from

intransitive verb

: to work or act as a scavenger

(Source: Merriam-Webster)

We have a scavenger in our Noah’s Pals collection and you might be surprised to know that it is the Marabou Stork!