The Numbers Behind the Walk
A cattle egret foraging alone catches roughly one prey item per minute. Walking behind a large mammal, a buffalo, a cow, an elephant, that number jumps to 3.6 prey items per minute. The figure comes from a 1965 field study by H. Heatwole published in The Auk, and it has held up across decades of replication. The egret isn't being lazy. It is being precise.
