Dictionary » P » Predator

Predator

Definition

noun, plural: predators

(ecology) An organism that preys upon other organisms.


Supplement

In ecology, predators are those animals that live by preying on other organisms for food. Many predators hunt and eventually kill their prey, such as lion preying upon a buffalo, mantis eating a bee, baleen whale consuming millions of microscopic planktons, etc.


Word origin: Latin praedātor, pillager, from praedārī, to plunder
Related forms: predation (noun)

Compare: prey


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Human body odor

... "smelly" compounds. Even yogurt has some smell, not to speak about E. coli. For the same reason as they don't smell e.g. lion or other predator which must actually catch his prey. Because one cannot smell anything against the wind. That's a simple rule for all running around in the ...

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by JackBean
Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:36 pm
 
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Human body odor
Replies: 3
Views: 540

Ecological Niche

An ecological niche is the role an organism plays in a community in terms of the habitat it occupies, e.g., both a wolf and the wolf spider are predators. So they occupy the same ecological niche, albeit in a different habitat (even though they can live together in the same area, the habitat of ...

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by SteveYst
Wed Oct 03, 2012 2:00 pm
 
Forum: Ecology
Topic: Ecological Niche
Replies: 2
Views: 6783

Are predators always smarter than their prey?

A friend and I were having a discussion about predator and prey intelligence levels, he claimed that predators will always have higher intelligence than their prey. I simply couldn't believe that that could be a universal rule so I said I would ...

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by thekdog
Sat Aug 11, 2012 10:43 am
 
Forum: Zoology Discussion
Topic: Are predators always smarter than their prey?
Replies: 4
Views: 2510

Re: Evolving non "life-or-death" but useful characteristics

... urge to defecate when frightened? How do you select for such a trait? Can you ever imagine an instance when defecating while being pursued by a predator would make any difference between life or death? Even if it did in one instance, statistically how could it be significant enough to make a ...

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by stephen502
Wed Jul 04, 2012 7:47 am
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: Evolving non "life-or-death" but useful characteristics
Replies: 5
Views: 3086

Evolving non "life-or-death" but useful characteristics

... may be keeping-dirt-out-of-eyes quite crucial. To me, your examples look exactly what (can) make(s) the difference. Because if you surprise the predator with yelling, you may survive. If you have problems with eyes, you will not survive for long.

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by JackBean
Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:12 am
 
Forum: Evolution
Topic: Evolving non "life-or-death" but useful characteristics
Replies: 5
Views: 3086
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