predation
thumb|upright=1.5|Solitary predator: a polar bear feeds on a [[bearded seal it has killed.]] thumb|upright=1.5|Social predators: [[meat ants cooperate to feed on a cicada far larger than themselves.]]
AI overview
Predation is when one animal hunts and kills another animal for food. It matters because it's a fundamental way that animals survive and obtain nutrition, and it shapes how different species interact with each other in nature.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
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Article
33 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Taxonomic range
- Foraging
- Search
- Assessment
- Capture
- Ambush
- Ballistic interception
- Pursuit
- Handling
- Solitary versus social predation
- Specialization
- Physical adaptations
- Diet and behaviour
- Camouflage and mimicry
- Venom
- Electric fields
- Physiology
- Antipredator adaptations
- Coevolution
- Role in ecosystems
- Trophic level
- Biodiversity maintained by apex predation
- Population dynamics
- Evolutionary history
- In human society
- Practical uses
- Symbolic uses
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- External links
thumb|upright=1.5|Solitary predator: a polar bear feeds on a [[bearded seal it has killed.]] thumb|upright=1.5|Social predators: [[meat ants cooperate to feed on a cicada far larger than themselves.]]
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators.