Tactics
Tactics
Catching prey is not an easy task, predators expend energy, can be injured, and still not catch enough food to survive. Certain genetically programmed and learned strategies make catching prey more likely to occur
Learning Outcome: Describe tactics predators use to capture prey and provide examples of animal species that utilize these tactics.
Humans have a huge advantage in capturing prey. It’s not just modern weaponry, it is having built-in advantages like a brain that can develop tactics, hands that can fashion and use weapons, and the ability to move quickly through a variety of environments.
This video provides an overview of predator strategies.
Watch this video; you can select the closed captioning “cc” option if you would like to see the text.
This crocodile has a variety of advantages: camouflage, stealthy movement, speed, strength, and weaponry.
You can imagine how a prey animal may not even see it coming.
Piranhas form large schools in South American rivers and can kill prey fish with their powerful jaws and sharp teeth.
Watch this classic predator move: turning its back on the camera.
Preying mantises (also called praying mantises) use a variety of techniques to capture their prey.
Our native mantises have green camouflage color and are shaped like grass blades. They are hard to see even when you are looking for them.
Ghost preying mantises look like dry leaves and sway back and forth like a leaf in the breeze as they move in on their prey. This species will grow to about four inches in size
Often confused with detritivore millipedes, centipedes are primarily predators.
This centipede appeared on our couch while we were videoing, possibly hunting the massive number of fruit flies that have escaped our enclosures. Centipedes are fast, strong, and typically camouflaged in the dirt.
Badis fish have chromatophores that change color as they move in on their prey, in this case white worms.
The next section focuses in on how predators use weaponry to immobilize their prey.
Check your knowledge – Tactics
Review your notes. Can you provide examples of a variety of tactics predators use to catch prey? If so, move forward to the next page.
Learning Objective:
Describe tactics predators use to capture prey and provide examples of animal species that utilize these tactics.
Go back to Predators & Prey Page
Go forward to the Weapons Page
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