This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary.

Predator eyes - an american alligator

For other uses, see Predator (disambiguation) and Prey (disambiguation).

A predator is an animal or other organism (such as a carnivorous plant) that hunts and kills other organisms, called prey, for food in an act called predation. snapping turtle predator Photo by Pollinator, Fairfield Glade, TN July 2003 Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 05:49, Sep 19, 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... snapping turtle predator Photo by Pollinator, Fairfield Glade, TN July 2003 Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 05:49, Sep 19, 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Genera See text. ... Binomial name Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) Subspecies (Dusky Canada Goose) (Vancouver Canada Goose) (Lesser Canada Goose) (Moffitts Canada Goose) (Giant Canada Goose) (Interior Canada Goose) (Atlantic Canada Goose) The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), colloquially Greater Canada in North America, belongs to the Branta genus of geese, which contains species... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (842x345, 295 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Predator Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (842x345, 295 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Predator Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Predator can refer to: In biology and ecology, a predator is an animal or other organism that hunts and kills other organisms for food An Apex predator, a predator which is not preyed upon as a species by other predators In criminology, predator is a term used to describe some... Look up prey in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera (sponges) Subregnum Agnotozoa Placozoa (trichoplax) Orthonectida (orthonectids) Rhombozoa (dicyemids) Subregnum Eumetazoa Radiata (unranked) (radial symmetry) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anemones) Bilateria (unranked) (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is a complex adaptive system of organs that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. ... A Nepenthes in flower, growing on a road cut in Palau A carnivorous plant (sometimes called an insectivorous plant) is a plant that derives some or most of its nutrients (but not energy) by trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, especially insects and other arthropods. ...

Predators are either carnivores or omnivores. The difference between a predator and a parasite is that for a predator killing the prey is necessary for consuming it, but for parasites it is not even desirable because a parasite lives on or in its host. The lion is a well-known, truly carnivorous member of the order Carnivora. ... An omnivore (from Latin: omne all, everything; vorare to devour) is an animal that eats both plants and meat. ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ... Look up Killing on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Killing is a family name and the name of several things. ...

Herbivores also consume other species, but generally only in part, leaving the organism alive. However, where the prey consists of single-celled algae, the activities of the herbivorous grazer is generally of the same nature as that of a carnivore. As often in ecology there is seldom consensus on the distinctions; some ecologists prefer functional definitions like the one outlined above, others rather look at the ecological dynamics the relationships between the species create. The Volterra-Lotka equations describe a simple mathematical model of the interaction between predators and their prey. A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage In zoology, an herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat primarily plant matter (rather than meat). ... A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... The word ecology is often used in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. ... The Lotka-Volterra equations, also known as the predator-prey equations, are a pair of first order, non-linear, differential equations frequently used to describe the dynamics of biological systems in which two species interact, one a predator and one its prey. ... A mathematical model is an abstract model that uses mathematical language to describe the behaviour of a system. ... Prey can refer to: Look up Prey in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A prey animal eaten by a predator in an act called predation. ...

There may be hierarchies of predators; for example, though small birds prey on insects, they may in turn be prey for snakes, which may in turn be prey for hawks. A predator at the top of its food chain (that is, one that is preyed upon by no organism) is called an apex predator; examples include the Great White Shark, tiger and crocodile. Such predators may have a profound influence on the balance of organisms in a particular ecosystem; introduction or removal of this predator, or changes in its population, can have drastic cascading effects on the equilibrium of many other populations in the ecosystem. Orders Many - see section below. ... Classes & Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrate animals of the Class Insecta, the largest and (on land) most widely-distributed taxon within the phylum Arthropoda. ... Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae Snakes (from Old English snaca, and ultimately from PIE base *snag- or *sneg-, to crawl), also known as ophidians, are cold blooded legless reptiles closely... The term hawk refers to birds of prey in any of three senses: Strictly, to mean any of the species in the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis, and Megatriorchis. ... Food chains and food webs or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Predator and prey. ... Binomial name Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758) For information about the band, see Great White (band). ... Binomial name Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) Tigers (Latin: Panthera tigris) are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four big cats in the panthera genus. ... Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma See full taxonomy. ... In ecology, the word ecosystem is an abbreviation of the term, ecological system. ...

Specialists and Generalists

Many predators specialize in hunting only one species of prey. Others are more opportunistic and will kill and eat almost anything. The specialists are usually particularly well suited to capturing their preferred prey. The prey in turn, are often equally suited to escape that predator. This is called an evolutionary arms race and tends to keep the populations of both species in equilibrium. An Arms Race is a competition between two or more countries for military supremacy. ...

There is a full spectrum of specialization. Some predators specialize in certain classes of prey, not just single species. Almost all will switch to other prey (with varying degrees of success) when the preferred target is extremely scarce.

Motivation

Contrary to conventional belief, predation is not typically an indiscriminate urge to kill other living beings. When hunger is not an issue for the animal, most predators will typically not seek to attack prey since the basic need is absent and it is a waste of energy to do so. For instance, a large predator fish like a shark that is well fed in an aquarium will typically ignore the smaller fish swimming around it (while the prey fish take advantage of the fact that the apex predator is apparently uninterested). In cryptography, SHARK is a block cipher identified as one of the predecessors of Rijndael (the Advanced Encryption Standard). ... For other uses, see Aquarium (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Predator and prey. ...

It has been observed that well-fed predator animals in a lax captivity (for instance, pet or farm animals) will usually differentiate between putative prey animals who are familiar co-inhabitants in the same human area from wild ones outside the area. This interaction can range from peaceful coexistence to close companionship; motivation to ignore the predatory instinct may result from mutual advantage or fear of reprisal from human masters who have made clear that harming co-inhabitants will not be tolerated. Pet cats and pet mice, for example, may live together in the same human residence without incident as companions. Pet cats and pet dogs under human mastership often depend on each other for warmth, companionship, and even protection, particularly in rural areas. Pets and humans often contribute toward the happiness of the other in a pet relationship. ... Bales of hay on a farm near Ames, Iowa A farm is the basic unit in agriculture. ...