23 years of predation data from Yellowstone Park (U.S.A.) shows that when large prey (e.g., elk) become scarce, cougars switch to smaller prey (e.g., deer) to reduce kleptoparasitism by wolves and bears.

Summary: https://phys.org/news/2025-04-prey-size-plays-role-competition.html

Original paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-07779-5

("Kleptoparasitism" seems like a good word to describe the actions of billionaire oligarchs.)

Bird of the Day — Merlin, Kansas, yesterday

Nature, red in beak and claw

Breakfast

A grey #heron feeding on a #vole

#Leaf-dwelling #fungi enhance black #poplar chemical defenses and mediate multi-trophic #insect interactions.

#Cladosporium #predation #herbivore #alkaloids #stachydrine #metabolomics #microbiome

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-leaf-fungi-black-poplar-chemical.html

When sheep farming began in Patagonia roughly a century ago, they extirpated the local mountain lions, allowing Magellanic penguins to establish breeding colonies on the mainland. With the recent decrease in sheep farming, mountain lions have returned and are feasting on the penguins--including in national parks that were established to protect the charismatic bird.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-did-scientists-learn-after-thousands-of-penguins-were-slaughtered-by-mountain-lions-180985923/

Une fleur ? Non, un redoutable prédateur ! La mante fleur épineuse allie camouflage et stratégie de chasse pour surprendre ses proies.

Découvrez ce chef-d'œuvre de la nature https://www.2tout2rien.fr/la-mante-fleur-epineuse/

The #USA's racist #history says this 1933 scene in #Michigan is bad

But what's happening is good

A #bank has foreclosed on a #farmer and put their #farm up for #auction. #Neighbors have come to bid penny amounts to win the farm and return it

It was called a #pennyAuction

The nooses are a threat to high bidders. Others roam the crowd with axe handles

#CollectiveAction, #Community, #MutualAid

Against #financial #predation, #corporate #greed

We lost this as a country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_auction_(foreclosure)

Oceanographers Record The Largest Predation Event Ever Observed In The Ocean
--
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-oceanographers-largest-predation-event-ocean.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06952-6 <-- shared paper
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #fish #fisheries #marine #oceangraphy #climatechange #predation #monitoring #cod #capelin #ocean #Norway #acoustic #sonic #imaging #OAWRS #Arctic #ice #icesheet #migration #pressure #stress #oceanhealth #ecosystem #interactions #biosphere #foodweb #foodchain

I just saw a song thrush vigorously beat a garden snail out of its shell on our driveway.

It reminded me of that scene from The Avengers with Loki and the Hulk.

"I have an army."

"We have a thush!"

https://flic.kr/p/2qqsEGj
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/249455030

Poverty Pimps
How 'Helping The Homeless' Became A Billion Dollar Industry
#Unhoused #Homeless #Capitalism #LaissezFaire #Predation #Classism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSX6J4WkGCk

A comparative review of the relationships between size and social structure on predation by large mammalian carnivores:

https://theconversation.com/the-power-of-one-solitary-carnivores-outkill-group-hunters-238235

polykill

About the assumptions we make in #DeepTime.

It is a mistake to think of #nature as warm and cuddly. Many, perhaps most, #violent encounters between #humans and #wildlife are the result of the former treating the latter as #Disney characters.

One reason “#birds are #dinosaurs” made immediate sense to me was a vivid childhood memory: when I was about ten, I thought some #goslings were cute and wanted to pet them. #Mother #Goose had other ideas. Yeah, don’t do that.

It is equally a mistake to assume nature is All #Killing, All The Time. Fighting takes a lot of energy, and wild animals—including our own distant ancestors—are in constant peril of #starvation. Even a minor #injury can lead to #infection and #death.

Violence is a tool of survival, to be sure, whether in #predation, self-defense, or squabbles over #territory and #mating. Unnecessary violence is a quick road to #extinction. Most animals would rather do something else, when they can.

So before you fall back on “red in tooth and claw” as a default, look for other explanations. They’re usually more interesting anyway.

Biologists study trade-offs of microscopic predators https://phys.org/news/2024-05-biologists-offs-microscopic-predators.html

Costs of being a diet generalist for the #protist predator #Dictyostelium discoideum https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2313203121

"The #amoebae prey on a very diverse group of #bacteria. But when they switch from one bacteria to another, there's a physiological cost."