Page 1 Page 2 (What makes a good predator)
Predators vary considerably in size, strength, speed and appearance, but they all have several things in common as well as their own particular specialisations.
For a predator this is probably the most important talent they have if they cant get close to their prey without being heard then their chances of catching their prey drops considerably. Predators are designed to allow quiet movement if you look at a lion, leopard or cheetah they all have paws which are soft and therefore quiet a lot of the prey species in comparison have hooves (e.g. Zebra, Springbok, Kudu) which are harder wearing and give better protection against thorns or sharp rocks on the ground, but which are a lot noisier
As well as being able to move quietly, predators need to be able to avoid being spotted by their prey, so they need to blend into the background to avoid detection. Predators have developed different styles of camouflage to help them do this, such as spots (leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena) or stripes (Tiger). For instance, whilst a cheetahs spotted coat may stand out when it is out of its natural environment, the cheetah can disappear from view very easily as it moves into long grass, even if it is still very close. If the cheetah remains still it is very hard to see. Similarly a Tigers stripes may stand out in a photo, but in a jungle environment the lower levels of light and the shadows help the Tiger become much harder to see.
Predators need to be able to detect
their prey from as far away as possible to allow them to sneak up on them.
Eyesight is important and if the predator hunts at night then good night vision
is a real benefit. Cats have far more sensitive eyes than humans which means
they can see far better in the dark than we can. For a predator, having better
night vision than their prey makes it much easier to catch something to eat when
hunting at night.
Hearing is another important sense as it allows the predator to hear activity
nearby and either locate prey, or avoid danger.
A good sense of smell is also useful, particularly for predators like the lion,
leopard or hyena which are happy to scavenge off a carcass or to hunt fresh
food. As a carcass rots it gives off scents that the predator can smell from a
distance and use to home in on it.
These two features have to be balanced a predator can be
very fast but not very strong (e.g. Cheetah) or very strong but not very fast
(Lion) note that these are relative a lion is still able to run at a high
speed but is slow when compared to the Cheetah, and the Cheetah while weak when
compared to a lion is still strong enough to overpower and kill its prey.
For
strength the animal needs large muscles, and as muscles increase in size, the
animal gets heavier making it harder to run fast. Similarly to increase speed
the animal needs to be as light as possible, which means less muscles. This can
be seen in human athletes 100 metre sprinters are a lot slimmer, lighter and
faster than top weightlifters but they arent as strong.
Prey species are not totally defenceless, and they have several ways to protect themselves.
The first is to try and spot the predator as early as possible to give the
maximum possible time to escape. For this reason animals such a Springbok,
Impala, Zebra, Wildebeest tend to stay together in large herds. The benefit of
this is that with say 100 animals in the herd, there are 100 pairs of eyes
looking for predators, so while a lone animal can only look in one direction at
a time and has to look down when grazing, with a herd different animals will be
looking in different directions at any time, so there is far less chance of a
predator sneaking up unnoticed.
Another benefit of being in a herd is that sheer force of numbers can sometimes
drive a predator away, particularly a smaller predator like a cheetah, but a
herd of angry buffalo can drive off lions.
If a predator appears and escape is needed, then speed is important, but rather than just running in a straight line where a cheetah could quickly catch them, many smaller antelopes such as Springbok will make rapid changes of direction to try and shake off the pursuing predator, or will jump to confuse and avoid the predator.
The final defence is that many of the prey species have horns which although
they are mainly used in territorial fights with other antelopes of the same
species, do form a useful defence against predators. Some antelope have fairly
small horns - e.g. a springboks, but an Oryx has long straight sharp horns that
can easily impale and kill a predator, and Buffalo have dangerous curved horns
plus a lot of weight to put into an attack. Other prey species such as a Zebra
or Giraffe have very powerful kicks that could badly injure a predator which
gets too close. The horns of antelope species
Predators have to be very careful to avoid injuries from horns or kick, as a bad
injury can make it almost impossible for them to hunt for some time, and this
makes starvation a real possibility.
Can you find all the words hidden in the puzzle ? Select one of the four puzzles, then search for the words. When you find one, click on the first letter, then move your mouse to the last letter in the word and click it. If you got it right, the word will be highlighted and crossed off the list of words you still need to find.
© Predator Conservation Trust.
