It's not often that we see examples of nature's food chain in action here on campus, but several students got a front row seat on Tuesday. At approximately 1:35 p.m., three sophomores stumbled upon a bird that had pinned a mouse to the arm of a bench outside of Old Quincy.

The bird, which onlookers said they believe was a falcon, then pecked at the mouse and started to dismember it. After beheading the rodent, the bird worked its way through the rest of the poor creature, picking off chunks of meat until the mouse was no more.

"It was somewhat gruesome, but we were more fascinated," one onlooker told us afterward. "Otherwise, we couldn’t have continued to watch."

But the same eyewitness also said he found meaning in the killing. “In that moment, I came to realize the transience of life, and the existential fragility of my human existence,” he said.