News tagged with predators
Bats: What sounds good doesn't always taste good
Bats use a combination of cues in their hunting sequence - capture, handling and consumption - to decide which prey to attack, catch and consume and which ones they are better off leaving alone or dropping ...
May 21, 2012 |
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Octopuses focus on key features for successful camouflage
Octopuses camouflage themselves by matching their body pattern to selected features of nearby objects, rather than trying to match the entire larger field of view, according to new research published in the ...
May 23, 2012 |
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Elephant seal tracking reveals hidden lives of deep-diving animals
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who pioneered the use of satellite tags to monitor the migrations of elephant seals have compiled one of the largest datasets available for any marine mammal species, ...
May 15, 2012 |
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An incisive design solution: The spider's venomous fang
(Phys.org) -- Although their armor consists of the same material as their predator’s fangs, flies, grasshoppers and other insects that are the usual prey of spiders have little to offer by way of defence ...
May 11, 2012 |
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A classic model for ecological stability revised, 40 years later
A famous mathematical formula which shook the world of ecology 40 years ago has been revisited and refined by two University of Chicago researchers in the current issue of Nature.
Feb 19, 2012 |
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Escalating arms race: Predatory sea urchins drive evolution
(Phys.org) -- Nature teems with examples of evolutionary arms races between predators and prey, with the predator species gradually evolving a new mode of attack for each defensive adaptation that arises in ...
Apr 17, 2012 |
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Fossil of giant ancient sea predator discovered (w/ video)
Paleontologists have discovered that a group of remarkable ancient sea creatures existed for much longer and grew to much larger sizes than previously thought, thanks to extraordinarily well-preserved fossils ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 25, 2011 |
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Reindeer see a weird and wonderful world of ultraviolet light
Researchers have discovered that the ultraviolet (UV) light that causes the temporary but painful condition of snow blindness in humans is life-saving for reindeer in the arctic.
May 26, 2011 |
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Dinosaurs with killer claws yield new theory about flight
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research from Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies has revealed how dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Deinonychus used their famous killer claws, leading to a new hypothesis on ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Dec 14, 2011 |
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Bigger and brainier: did dingoes kill thylacines?
Direct attacks by introduced dingoes may have led to the extinction on the Australian mainland of the iconic marsupial predator, the thylacine, a new study suggests.
May 03, 2012 |
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The sea dragons bounce back
(PhysOrg.com) -- The evolution of ichthyosaurs, important marine predators of the age of dinosaurs, was hit hard by a mass extinction event 200 million years ago, according to a new study from the University ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
May 04, 2011 |
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The small insect with a big heart: the 'giving' aphids endangered by their selflessness
One of the founding principles of Darwin's theory is that biological evolution has been shaped by the survival of the fittest. Things, however, are not always that simple as researchers from Royal Holloway, ...
Feb 03, 2010 |
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Two ground-nesting birds eavesdrop on chipmunk chatter to find safe neighborhoods
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ground-nesting birds face an uphill struggle to successfully rear their young, with many eggs and chicks falling prey to predators.
Jun 23, 2011 |
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Escape response of small fish tested using a supercomputer
(Phys.org) -- Small fish bend themselves into a 'C' shape before they flee from predators. Observations have suggested that this shape helps them to abruptly put the greatest distance possible between themselves ...
May 02, 2012 |
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Predatory fish have large guts to help them through famine
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by scientists in the US has solved the mystery of why predatory fish have a far greater digestive capacity than they actually need. The study suggests the reason is that the extra-large ...
Jul 08, 2011 |
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Predation
In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey, (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey. The other main category of consumption is detritivory, the consumption of dead organic material (detritus). It can at times be difficult to separate the two feeding behaviors, for example where parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on its decaying corpse. The key characteristic of predation however is the predator's direct impact on the prey population. On the other hand, detritivores simply eat what is available and have no direct impact on the "donor" organism(s).
Selective pressures imposed on one another has led to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations.
For more information about Predation, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
