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from the things-are-not-always-as-they-seem dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
University of Washington researchers have discovered that large predators play a key yet unexpected role in keeping smaller predators and deer in check. Their "fatal attraction" theory finds that smaller predators are drawn to the kill sites of large predators by the promise of leftover scraps, but the scavengers may be killed themselves if their larger kin return for seconds.
The study, published March 18 in the journal Ecology Letters, is the first to examine carnivore killing and scavenging activities in relation to each other across dozens of landscapes around the world. Patterns that emerged from their analysis could be used to make important management decisions about large carnivores worldwide, the authors said.
"I hope this paper will spur researchers to think more holistically about these killing and scavenging interactions, because currently we're not really getting a full understanding of how carnivore communities function by examining them separately," said senior author Laura Prugh, a wildlife ecologist and associate professor in the UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
Large carnivores such as cougars, wolves and grizzly bears have disappeared from many regions, allowing some smaller carnivores—coyotes, foxes and bobcats, for example—to increase in population. The absence of large carnivores, especially on the East Coast, also has ignited populations of deer and other prey, creating an imbalance in many areas.
But in regions where top carnivores are present, such as the western U.S., their relationship with smaller predators is complex. When they kill deer and other prey, they often leave scraps for smaller predators to scavenge. But larger predators also are known to kill smaller carnivores.
[...] "We initially thought maybe smaller carnivores are scavenging the wolf kills and benefiting," explained Prugh, referencing one of the top predators, wolves, examined in the study. "But then we realized that at these scavenging sites, they might be running into the wolves and getting killed. The scavenging, instead of providing a benefit, could actually be functioning as a trap that's drawing in the smaller carnivores."
The researchers thus developed their fatal attraction theory, which proposes that even though large predators are helpful providers of food, their kill sites ultimately are dangerous for smaller predators, which can then become prey themselves when the top predator returns.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @12:43AM (5 children)
All it amounts to is, smaller critters creep around bigger critter's kill, to see if it can get some crumbs, but sometimes end up becoming another kill for the bigger critter.
Some clowns throw cooked-up inane narratives over it and call it a "research?" GTFO.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 19 2020, @12:57AM (4 children)
That's about it. If you're a carnivore, you're not interested in much more than filling your belly, and answering the mating call each season. Fresh meat is fresh meat, so you take it where you find it. What would be more interesting is whether small carnivores satisfy some nutritional need that herbivores do not. If that were true, then it would be easy to imagine some crafty carnivore intentionally leaving some good herbivore meat lying around, to lure smaller carnivores in.
But, I don't really think that's the case. It's probably just opportunism. Or, a little play to hone the hunting skills.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @01:42AM (2 children)
Maybe they don't consciously do it on purpose but natural selection has resulted in them instinctively leaving some food behind which results in them being able to come back after the scavengers. They may not be conscious of what they are doing and why though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @03:01AM (1 child)
It's similar to how dogs have these weird instincts about digging after they use the bathroom even though they aren't really digging up anything because they're doing it on the grass. They instinctively do it because of natural selection from prior generations but how conscious are they about what they are doing and why? It doesn't seem like they are aware of how silly it is for them to try to dig up the grass on a lawn even when nothing is really being dug up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 20 2020, @10:07PM
IDK what you're referring to but my dogs don't really dig anything. they tear up the grass to throw grass on their shit. like a bull kicks up dust. my pit uses both front and back legs and shreds the grass and throws it right on the shit. she's doing it on purpose to be clean.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @08:42AM
If there are lots of small carnivores going around hunting for food, it might be easier for the large carnivore to let them do most of the work then pop by to steal the prey or even get the small carnivore as well.