The researchers ranked aggression in members of labiata by watching their reactions to their own mirror reflections. The dice ought to be loaded against shy predators and bold prey. In any predator-prey interaction, aggressive predators fare better than shy ones, while shy prey survive longer. Found throughout south and southeast Asia, its frequent prey is Cosmophasis umbratica, another common jumping spider. Its versatile and adaptable hunting strategy is reminiscent of a cat. Portia labiata hunt insects and other spiders. Researchers from the National University of Singapore tested two species of jumping spiders. How much does the personality of a predator affect its hunting performance?Īlthough spiders don’t seem great cognitive abilities, they have personalities. Thankfully, frog embryos haven’t evolved to smell biologists yet. Biologists working to limit the spread and number of these invasive gluttons have a much harder job. However, if embryos didn’t smell any fish, the tadpoles seemed to know they had nothing to fear. If tadpoles are savvy about predators such as largemouth bass and take evasive action, they could flourish without control. They eat anything they can stuff into their mouths, posing a threat to smaller indigenous creatures. The shy ones also grew longer.īullfrogs don’t belong to Oregon they are natives of eastern US. They seemed to learn what dangers lurked in the environment before they emerged from their eggs. After they hatched, nervous tadpoles from the first two groups ducked undercover faster than the ones that didn’t smell anything as embryos. Besides the fishy smell, another lot also sniffed injured tadpoles, while a third didn’t get a whiff of anything. They let one lot smell the odour of the frog predator, largemouth bass, for two days. Researchers from Oregon State University conducted an experiment with American bullfrog eggs. They suspect other sharks with similar eating habits may use the same move to get their food down.īullfrogs learn to avoid predators even before they hatch Since the shoulder girdle wasn’t connected to the head in any way, the researchers didn’t expect to see it move. Researchers from Brown University used a combination of CT scans and high-speed high-resolution X-ray movies to see how muscles and cartilage move in live sharks. Immediately after it gets hold of its prey and closes its mouth, it shrugs its shoulders back by 11 degrees to create suction that pulls the fish down into the digestive tract. The one-metre-long white-spotted bamboo shark scrounges for fish on coral reefs. So they devise other ways of getting it down. Interestingly, there were no other reports from India or even Asia.Ī better name for these insects would be ‘preying’ mantids.īamboo sharks swallow their prey with a shrugįish don’t have tongues to help them swallow food. Browne reported a giant Asian mantis ( Hierodula patellifera ) preying on a crimson-backed sunbird ( Leptocoma minima ) in the Western Ghats. But humans, perhaps feeling sorry for the birds, intervened to rescue them from their insect captors in 18% of the instances. The insects got to feast on most occasions. The ruby-throated hummingbird, the most common member of the family east of the Mississippi River, was a frequent casualty. Most of the 147 cases took place in the US where the insects learned to hunt hummingbirds near feeders and flowering plants in gardens. Nature enthusiasts thought birds figured rarely in the insects’ diet.Ī recent review documented at least 12 species of mantids from 13 countries in all continents except Antarctica snatching birds of 24 species. Occasionally, mantids snack on vertebrates like frogs, lizards, and even snakes. Sharp spines hold its struggling meal firmly. When it spots insects or spiders, it abandons its seemingly benign preoccupation and grabs them with its legs. The praying mantis got its name for folding its long front legs in a prayerful posture, while lying in ambush.
But one family of insects has turned the tables on its predators.
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