What's a Bolus Burrito?

UPDATE, May 10, 2011:  

In response to a comment that accompanied this post last June, I gave a source for boluses for classroom dissections.  That source is no longer active.  The Fish and Wildlife Service currently has the bolus dissemination project on hold until further notice.  We all hope that one day FWS can start up the collection and dissemination of boluses again, after the Refuge has a chance to complete tsunami recovery projects and a Visitor Services position is filled for Midway Atoll.  Iʻll certainly add to this post as information becomes available.

In the meantime, as part of a collaborative education partnership, a non-profit organization Oikonos is distributing a limited number of boluses to school groups.  The Oikonos website has a wealth of educational activities!  Contact Michelle Hester who will connect you with the albatross bolus coordinator for more details.

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No...you wouldn't want to eat a bolus burrito!

As albatross grow up, they begin to be able to toss up out of their stomach any objects they can't digest.  (See FOAM's "Albatross Barf" video.)  These indigestible objects are tightly packed into what's called a bolus. You've probably heard of fur balls that cats make, and maybe you've known that owls get rid of mouse fur and bones in pellets; so a bolus is like a cat fur ball or owl pellet.

photo by Mike Neal

Albatross feed on flying fish eggs and squid. Squid are mostly digestible, except for their hard mouths, called beaks, that feel like your finger nail. Flying fish eggs are completely digestible, but they're often attached to natural objects -- like floating sticks or volcanic rocks called pumice -- which are definitely not digestible. So albatross come equipped to toss up boluses to get rid of these unwanted items.

Nowadays, many boluses have plastic in addition to squid beaks, sticks and pumice. The picture on the top left shows pieces of plastic, fishing line, a bottle cap, and even a toothbrush in a loosely packed bolus! The bolus on the right is much more tightly packed.

It is educational to see what a real bolus looks like; it helps people understand why they need to be more careful how they get rid of their trash. Many teachers ask Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge for boluses for their students to dissect, or take apart. Take a look at bolus dissection activities on the Oikonos website, or a recent dissection on FOAM's post "Marine Debris: Aunty Moana's Little, Green, Square Things.

photo by Mike Neal

That's why Marty and I are making "bolus burritos."  We put a bolus on a piece of scrap paper that's being reused as a paper tortilla. Then we roll up the bolus in the paper and fold in the paper ends --> a bolus burrito!  Now we label the burrito with the date when the bolus was collected and from which island of the Atoll it came.  How many bolus burritos are in the picture, not even counting the boluses in the plastic bag by my right foot?! Lots! -- all for teachers and their students!