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"Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz> wrote in message
news:7me741tnjr6iivl0cvff6dn0ll8bcj7h63@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 23:57:13 -0500, "Jeff Goslin"
> <autockr@comcast.net> carved upon a tablet of ether:
>
> > Nope, but it's not terribly "predatory" to snag a fish who isn't even
aware
> > of your prescence.
>
> You do realise that that is the preferred method for most cats, right?
True, but thats a predation of opportunity for cats. If they see a fish,
they'll nab it, but otherwise, the standard method for most cats is the
pounce, done after a stalk, on something on land. Cats don't STALK fish,
they wait for fish if they have nothing better to do. If a cat were hungry,
it would MUCH rather tag a mouse than wait for a fish, given their chances
at one are significantly higher than their chances at the other.
> It's also how many falcons take their prey - a high speed dive onto
> something that never knows it's a target until it's been hit.
With predatory birds, they don't wait for prey to come into range, they take
the fight to the prey, which is one of the key components, as far as I am
concerned, when it comes to true predators. Slamming at 100MPH into another
bird in mid flight (more impressive than landing on a field mouse or rabbit)
without much chance of missing is a tad bit different than waiting around
for a fish to swim close enough and hoping you get it out of the water.
Hence, their actions are predatory in the truest sense.
I find it MORE difficult to consider the "wait for the strike" type
predators to be true predators, but as long as they are effective at killing
prey in an impressively brutal fashion, I don't have much problem with
calling the sneak attack type actual predators. I'm thinking mostly spiders
and other insect-like predators here, but others fit into that category(many
feline species, eg).
What I *DON'T* consider predators are things that just swallow stuff up that
doesn't put up a fight. You have to fight for your prey in order to be
considered a real predator. If you ask me.
> So far you've said that filter feeders (scollops, baleen whales)
> aren't predators, that diving hunters (sea eagles, falcons, owls)
> aren't predators,
You said that, not me.
and that ambush hunters (most cats, many snakes,
> many fish-eating fish, moray eels) aren't predators.
Again, you said that, not me.
That leaves
> 'chasers', such as dogs and men without bows or guns as about the only
> 'real' predators.
I suppose what I would consider a real predator is anything that ACTIVELY
kills, rather than passively kills.
While killer whales have an ingenious method of "fishing", it's not really
predatory until you have to actually kill something before swallowing
it(killer whales do this cool bubble blowing/tail swatting thing to first
gather fish and then stun them for eating). Killer whales and SEALS on the
other hand, that's truly predatory.
Don't presume to speak for me about what *I* think a predator is. You can't
even come up with a definition of predator that doesn't include cows, for
chrissakes.
😉
--
Jeff Goslin - MCSD - www.goslin.info
It's not a god complex when you're always right
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