Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Experiments on blue jays suggest they form a search image for certain prey.. Visual predators may form what is termed a search image of certain prey.. Predators need not locate their host directly: Kestrels, for instance, are able to detect the faeces and urine of their prey (which reflect ultraviolet), allowing them to identify areas where there are large numbers of voles, for example.
Although the term "bird of prey" could theoretically be taken to include all birds that actively hunt and eat other animals, [4] ornithologists typically use the narrower definition followed in this page, [5] excluding many piscivorous predators such as storks, cranes, herons, gulls, skuas, penguins, and kingfishers, as well as many primarily ...
Larvae of the ground beetle Epomis move their mandibles one after another to lure amphibians toward them and then prey on them. Their body structure allows them to bite and feed on the amphibians even when they are ingested by larger prey such as frogs. [21] Although plants are better known for defensive mimicry, there are exceptions. For ...
Many prey animals, and to defend against seed predation also seeds of plants, [55] make use of poisonous chemicals for self-defence. [51] [56] These may be concentrated in surface structures such as spines or glands, giving an attacker a taste of the chemicals before it actually bites or swallows the prey animal: many toxins are bitter-tasting ...
There is a strong evolutionary pressure for prey animals to avoid predators through camouflage, and for predators to be able to detect camouflaged prey. There can be a self-perpetuating coevolution, in the shape of an evolutionary arms race, between the perceptive abilities of animals attempting to detect the cryptic animal and the cryptic characteristics of the hiding species.
Small prey is killed by being shaken in the mouth, while large prey is eaten alive. [13] The spotted hyena tracks live prey by sight, hearing and smell. Carrion is detected by smell and the sound of other predators feeding. During daylight hours, they watch vultures descending upon carcasses.
How do birds get their colors? Understanding bird coloration combines biology and physics. There are two primary ways that birds get their color: pigmentation and the physical structure of the ...
Much of the communication between predators and prey can be defined as signaling. In some animals, the best way to avoid being preyed upon is an advertisement of danger or unpalatability, or aposematism. Given the effectiveness of this, it is no surprise that many animals employ styles of mimicry to ward off predators. Some predators also use ...