Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations
Collective behaviours are widely assumed to confuse predators, but empirical support for a confusion effect is often lacking, and its importance must depend on the predator’s targeting mechanism. Here we show that Swainson’s Hawks Buteo swainsoni and other raptors attacking swarming Mexican Free-tai...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2022
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| _version_ | 1797108123190689792 |
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| author | Brighton, C Harding, C Larkman, L McGowan, K Zusi, L Kloepper, L Taylor, GK |
| author_facet | Brighton, C Harding, C Larkman, L McGowan, K Zusi, L Kloepper, L Taylor, GK |
| author_sort | Brighton, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Collective behaviours are widely assumed to confuse predators, but empirical support for a confusion effect is often lacking, and its importance must depend on the predator’s targeting mechanism. Here we show that Swainson’s Hawks Buteo swainsoni and other raptors attacking swarming Mexican Free-tailed Bats Tadarida brasiliensis steer by turning towards a fixed point in space within the swarm, rather than by using closed-loop pursuit of any one individual. Any prey with which the predator is on a collision course will appear to remain on a constant bearing, so target selection emerges naturally from the geometry of a collision. Our results show how predators can simplify the demands on their sensory system by decoupling steering from target acquisition when capturing prey from a dense swarm. We anticipate that the same tactic will be used against flocks and schools across a wide range of taxa, in which case a confusion effect is paradoxically more likely to occur in attacks on sparse groups, for which steering and target acquisition cannot be decoupled. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:23:08Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9d6db361-c51f-4eaa-95fa-d7bd63dbdedc |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:23:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9d6db361-c51f-4eaa-95fa-d7bd63dbdedc2022-11-09T10:29:55ZRaptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregationsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9d6db361-c51f-4eaa-95fa-d7bd63dbdedcEnglishSymplectic ElementsSpringer Nature2022Brighton, CHarding, CLarkman, LMcGowan, KZusi, LKloepper, LTaylor, GKCollective behaviours are widely assumed to confuse predators, but empirical support for a confusion effect is often lacking, and its importance must depend on the predator’s targeting mechanism. Here we show that Swainson’s Hawks Buteo swainsoni and other raptors attacking swarming Mexican Free-tailed Bats Tadarida brasiliensis steer by turning towards a fixed point in space within the swarm, rather than by using closed-loop pursuit of any one individual. Any prey with which the predator is on a collision course will appear to remain on a constant bearing, so target selection emerges naturally from the geometry of a collision. Our results show how predators can simplify the demands on their sensory system by decoupling steering from target acquisition when capturing prey from a dense swarm. We anticipate that the same tactic will be used against flocks and schools across a wide range of taxa, in which case a confusion effect is paradoxically more likely to occur in attacks on sparse groups, for which steering and target acquisition cannot be decoupled. |
| spellingShingle | Brighton, C Harding, C Larkman, L McGowan, K Zusi, L Kloepper, L Taylor, GK Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
| title | Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
| title_full | Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
| title_fullStr | Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
| title_short | Raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
| title_sort | raptors avoid the confusion effect by targeting fixed points in dense aerial prey aggregations |
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