All articles tagged with #predator avoidance
Two studies find North American bears and mountain lions actively avoid humans, explaining the rarity of attacks. Bears retreat more when hearing human voices and engines than gulls, while mountain lions anticipate busy human activity and steer clear of trails, suggesting humans shape a landscape of fear that reduces encounters and has ecosystem ripple effects, highlighting pathways to coexistence.
Two vast broods of periodical cicadas—Brood XIX (13-year) and Brood XIII (17-year)—emerged simultaneously across the eastern U.S. in 2024, the first such event since 1803, with next co-emergence not until 2245. The 13- and 17-year cycles are prime numbers, a fitness strategy explained as reducing overlap with predators’ shorter life cycles, a concept supported by predator-avoidance theory and, in part, by hybridization hypotheses. In mass emergences, predator satiation further boosts cicada survival, making these prime cycles a striking example of how a mathematical property can influence evolution.}
In a Panama rainforest, a white-necked jacobin hummingbird chick about one inch long was observed flicking and twisting to mimic a poisonous caterpillar, scaring away wasps and other predators. Scientists say this may be the first clear record of caterpillar-like mimicry in a hummingbird, a potential Batesian strategy to boost nest survival in predator-rich tropical forests; further experiments with artificial chicks are planned to test which colors or movements elicit attacks.
Scientists observed a baby white-necked jacobin hummingbird in Panama mimicking a poisonous caterpillar to deter predators, marking the first clear record of caterpillar-like mimicry in a hummingbird, which may help it survive in predator-rich tropical forests.