Rare mushroom on dead boar

Translated from daily Het Laatste Nieuws in Belgium:

Rare mushroom discovered on wild boar carcass in Dutch Limburg

Edited by: Anneleen De Vel

21/10/12 – 8:42 Source: belga.be

In national park De Meinweg in the Dutch province of Limburg, the Hebeloma birrus fungus has been found, a rare and endangered mushroom. Really special is that the mushroom is growing on the remains of a wild boar. Website natuurbericht.nl reports this.

In June, a female wild boar went to her final resting place in a secluded spot in the Limburg nature. The animal was put there as part of the initiative Death gives Life, where carcasses become part of the food chain so that other animals can live again. Nature organizations hope this will lead to the return of rare scavengers.

This video shows two carrion crows on the dead boar.

An earlier dead boar attracted a griffon vulture.

More than three months later, very little was left of the cadaver-thanks to crows, carrion flies and beetles-, but there were some conspicuous mushrooms. Among them was Hebeloma birrus. It is known as ‘endangered’. Between 2000 and 2007, the species declined by 75 percent compared to the period 1900-1983.

Carcasses in nature ensure a rapid and strong increase of nutrients in the soil. Especially organisms like mushrooms benefit.