Word: swiftlet
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Ultrasonic humidifier? Check. Swiftlet Bazooka Tweeter? Check. Feces powder? Er, check. All you need now is a multistory house with no doors or windows but plenty of holes, and you're almost ready to join one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing cottage industries: harvesting edible birds' nests. (See the top 10 animal stories...
...Edible birds' nests are the handiwork of the swiftlet, a small bird found mostly in Southeast Asia that builds its nests from its saliva. Bird's-nest soup is an expensive delicacy served across the Chinese-speaking world, and the basic ingredient is in such demand that nests are sometimes called "white gold" or the "caviar of the East." In Bangkok, an 11-oz. (300 g) box can cost $2,600, while so-called health drinks comprising just 1.1% nest sell for $4 a jar. Aficionados attribute nests with the power to treat everything from cold sores to tuberculosis...