FEATHERY FRIDAY (ON SATURDAY)...
IN CHINA and Japan, man and bird have come together for "mutual" benefit... traditional fishermen keep cormorants on their boats. These sharp-eyed birds scan the waters for fish, soon to plunge in, grab a writhing carp or whatever and obediently spit it on to the old man's boat.
What this popular commercial for the HSBC bank (formerly Midland Bank; HSBC stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank of CHINA) doesn't tell you is that the birds' throats are kindly bound with metal twine to stop them SWALLOWING their fishycatch ~ the feathery swines!
From what I remember from a National Geographic show they have rope or something tied around their necks. If they catch a small fish they can swallow past the rope. If its larger they can't swallow it, and the men pull it out of their mouths.
ReplyDeleteJanice~
That doesn't sound symbiotic to me, it sounds like slavery! Poor birdies.
ReplyDeleteYes, poor things.
ReplyDeleteCormorants are interesting. I see them dive bomb on fish here.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a programme on tv about the fishing cormorants...poor things.
ReplyDeleteYes!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the ropes or twines were left specially loose for National Geographic, or if they were just lying to the journalist. I don't trust anyone these days!!
But I did think it was really cool the first time I saw fishing cormorants (on this ad)... before I realized about the neck-binding thing...
The rope thing is real. They say it has been practised for 1300 years. Cruelty towards animals (or birds, in this case)has never seen such heights.
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