I sat and watched my chooks freeranging today and got to wondering about the "moonwalk" manoeuvre they do... you know the one, they scratch a bit of dirt with their feet, then quickly shuffle backwards to bring their eyes over it to see if they've unearthed anything tasty. Is it just me, or is this a really weird design flaw? Surely they miss a lot of the quicker bugs that scoot away before the chicken can spot them? Perhaps chooks should have longer legs and/or a bendier neck so they can see what they're scratching at? I guess the human equivalent is spotting your favourite jellybean flavour in the jar, but then putting on a blindfold before trying to fish it out.
I would think if it were a detrimental flaw, then they would have slowly started to evolve to "correct" it. My girls seem to get plenty of tasty bits so I am not sure it isn't successful for them. I am sure if a bug tried to escape with their eyesight they would have a difficult time.
