All articles tagged with #predator prey
Scientists examining a Polycotylus fossil in Alabama found an 80-million-year-old Xiphactinus tooth embedded in its neck, revealed by CT scans and 3D modeling; the bite appears to be a direct strike, not a feeding trace, showing a deadly predator clash in the Western Interior Seaway and challenging simple ideas about top predators.
A Scientific Reports study of bite marks on three young Permian herbivores shows that large predators were already shaping ecosystems more than 280 million years ago, with candidates like varanopid and sphenacodontid synapsids (e.g., Varanops and Dimetrodon) preying on big herbivores. The findings push back the timeline for predator–prey hierarchies on land and reveal a complex Permian food web that also involved arthropod borings and scavengers.
Researchers captured footage of orcas in the Gulf of California hunting juvenile great white sharks, flipping them upside down to extract their livers, demonstrating advanced hunting strategies and social learning among orcas, and highlighting that even top predators like sharks can be prey.
The article features stunning footage of a fearless elk charging a grey wolf in Yellowstone National Park, highlighting the intense predator-prey interactions in the wild, and provides additional information about elk and their habitat.
Nocturnal sheet web spiders in East Asia have been observed using fireflies as bait by capturing them in their webs, which attracts more prey and increases hunting success, revealing a complex interaction where firefly signals are exploited by spiders for predation.