The stomach contents of an animal usually wouldn't pose much of a mystery. The contents of an animal's stomach is not always clearly defined. Over the years, researchers, scientists, and ordinary people have found crazy things in the stomachs of animals.
A lot of creatures only have to hope for the best when they are munching on their latest meal. With increasing amounts of ocean pollution causing even strange animal mutations, it should be no surprise that animals can sometimes swallow things they are not supposed to consume.
In this article, we detail 21 strange things that have been found inside animals. Read on to learn more.
A Squid Contained A Live Bomb
In China, a fisherman hit a live bomb with his knife while gutting a three-foot-long squid to prepare it for sale. Fortunately, the bomb did not go off, and the man called emergency services immediately. Apparently, the squid had swallowed up the explosive device, mistaking it for a prawn. The bomb was left inside the squid until it died.
Dildo Inside a Cod Fish
Fisherman Bjørn Frilund caught a 50-kilogram cod in the waters near his hometown of Eidsbygda, in western Norway, when he found a big bump in the cod's abdomen. He reached in and pulled out two partially digested herrings and a sizeable orange vibrator which, despite fishing in the area for as long as he can remember, was undoubtedly a first for the 64-year-old.
A Tiger Shark Had A Whole Suit Of Armor in Its Stomach
The items were on display in 1994 by the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum as part of the "Sharks: Facts and Fantasy" exhibition. One of the craziest things found in the stomach of a shark is an entire armor suit, complete with a helm.
Newspaper Page Inside a Sunfish
Zoologist Edward Ramsay collected a massive 3-meter-tall sunfish from Sydney Harbor waters back in December 1882. The giant fish had been first observed by ships, according to the Ichthyology Studies of 1931, and then somehow went aground in black mud between the boats and the shallows.
It was lifted to a crane-by-crane wharf where "some idiots began hacking it with an axis over the head and pectoral fin" until a foreman stepped in and sent it to the Australian Museum.
A Lake Trout Had A Human Thumb
In 1992, a Wyoming fisherman found a severed thumb in the stomach of a trout he had caught. In the end, the missing digit was traced to Robert Lindsey. The year before, he had been involved in a boating incident where a propeller cut off two of his fingers and a thumb. The thumb remained missing when the fingers were found.
A Turtle With Coins in Its Stomach
A turtle in Thailand has been found to have nearly 1,000 coins in its body. The creature lived in a pond frequently visited by the tourists who threw coins for luck into the water. These coins had been consumed in large quantities by the unsuspecting turtle before the combined weight of all the change was so high that it broke its shell.
A successful surgical operation in hopes of saving the turtle was able to retrieve the coins and repair the damaged shell. However, due to nickel toxicity, the turtle had an infection that stopped the intestines. The turtle died about two weeks after surgery.
Piles of Garbage Inside an Elephant
Jumbo was a famous elephant who was part of a United States traveling circus. When the giant creature died, it was cut open so that various parts of the body could be sent to different locations and institutions. Workers have discovered a whole junkyard worth of scrap inside the stomach, including English pennies, a whistle from the police, keys, and screws.
A Badge in a Grouper
Fisherman Arnold Constantino made the catch of his life in April 2017 when he landed a massive Lapu-Lapu, or grouper fish, in the municipality of Pandan in the province of Antique in the Philippines. The fish was about 7 feet long and weighed more than 200 kg, making it probably the most significant fish ever caught in the region.
A Dog Ate a Concoction of Nails
When a Florida mixed hound, wasn't about to stop vomiting, its owners took it to a vet. They found in its stomach a massive pile of nails and screws scattered inside the dog's stomach. The vets and the owner are delighted to hear that she recovered after a successful operation.
An Ostrich Had a Glove and Two Handkerchiefs Inside
In the early 20th century, after an ostrich died in the ZSL London Zoo, a post-mortem was performed to determine how it had died. Investigators have discovered a whole host of things in the course of emptying the stomach. This included two handkerchiefs, one glove, one belt, one coin, one staple, and one pin.
A Human Body Inside a Crocodile
A crocodile swallowed an entire Australian woman as she went out one day swimming on the country's north-east coast. The croc was eventually tracked down, and the hunters were able to remove the remnants of her body from the crocodile's belly.
A Porcupine Inside a Shark
A tiger shark caught with porcupine spikes in its stomach was found along Bondi Beach in Australia. This porcupine is believed to have already been dead when it dropped into the water, but it would have still been a surprise to the shark as the spikes worked their way into its body.
A Frog Ate A Lot of Rocks
An exotic frog has been found eating up dozens of rocks. The animal was rushed to a Texas shelter after its owner thought he'd seen it snacking in his cage on the tiny stones. The x-ray revealed the frog had many different items in his stomach, but it did not seem to have any effects.
Greenland Shark Eats Reindeer
A Greenland shark was reported to have a full reindeer in his belly in 2011. Greenland sharks are absolutely beautiful if not the species' most photogenic. These sharks can live under the Arctic ice for up to 200 years. They can be a whopping 23-feet tall, and they are known to eat some enormous prey, including polar bears.
An Entire Horse Head Inside a Shark
An entire head of a horse was once found inside an 11-foot tiger shark in Australia. It is thought that when the shark struck, the horse was cooling off in the waters by the beach.
Religious Manuscripts Inside a Fish
A cod cut open at the Cambridge market was discovered in 1626 to contain a complete, partially digested, sixth decimal (twelve-part) text wrapped in canvas. It was identified after examination as several evangelical tracts published a century earlier during Henry VIII's reign, attributed to the reformist martyr John Frith who died on the stake in 1533.
A Deer Inside an Alligator
Alabama taxidermist Ken Owens took his knife in 2014 to a record-size alligator. He immediately found a pair of ears as he cut the beast open, which turned out to be attached to a whole adult female deer. Owens claimed that the deer was around three years old with a weight of 115 pounds.
A Mako Shark Had an Entire Sea Lion
Scientists trying to research the marine food chain found a surprising object inside the stomach of a Mako shark. The 12-foot predator had a 200-pound sea-lion inside it, according to chief scientist Dr. Antonella Preti. The sea lion was about the same size as an adult, and it was fully intact.
Legal Papers Inside a Shark
Lieutenant Michael Titton was in charge of the HMS Abergavenny off the coast of St. Domingo in 1799. The crew caught and hauled one of the sharks on deck, and Titton directed his men to open and clean the jaws of the fish, and they found that the shark had actually swallowed a packet of papers.
A Fur Coat Inside a Shark's Stomach
Once a tiger shark was found inside its stomach with a fur coat-it looks like caviar wasn't enough for the high appetite of these sharks. The coat was on display in the early 1990s as part of a US-based traveling show on sharks produced by the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum.
Electric Blanket Inside a Python
One Burmese python was murdered and found chewing a full electric blanket. The corded blanket spread throughout the length of the python's body when trying to digest the sheet, and made just enough of a blockage so that it couldn't eat a whole lot more.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things we need to learn more about the animal kingdom. However, these bizarre items (or animals and people) found inside animals show that there are things beyond our collective knowledge about these animals.
