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I always find it interesting that a lot of prey animals sometimes fight back with success but they don’t seem to repeat that behavior next time. I have seen vid

I always find it interesting that a lot of prey animals sometimes fight back with success but they don’t seem to repeat that behavior next time. I have seen videos of zebras going after a lion without problem but next time they will just run away again and the slowest will get killed.

sornaensis 8y ago
Some kind of result of co-evolving? Predators thinning out weaker members of the herd keeps the overall health of the herd up. Just some quick speculation.
agumonkey 8y ago
maybe a hormonal variable at play, anybody can fight when enraged, even if on average they might flee
simonh 8y ago
I suspect it very much depends on the initial conditions. A Zebra that decides to try to scare off the Lion, but isn't backed up by the rest of the herd, or isn't backed up by enough of them quickly enough, is dead meat. The problem is their ability to communicate with each other and co-ordinate is too limited.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  " A Zebra that decides to try to scare off the Lion, but isn't backed up by the rest of the herd, or isn't backed up by enough of them quickly enough, is dead meat. " Not necessarily true. An injury by a kick is a huge problem for the predator so they often shy away if the animal fights back. I have seen plenty of videos where single zebras or deer chased a predator away. Obviously this changes if there are several predators.
  - simonh 8y ago
    The trouble is Lions generally hunt as a pack.
vezycash 8y ago
For social animals like chicken, sheep, even humans the action of the group is often determined by a few - the leaders or the first to act. If the first chicken panicked and ran, the rest would. I'm guessing the fox ran into the aggressive ones first. To put humans into context here. Once, a couple of bombs went off in an Amory. People panicked and ran. Everyone ran in the direction of those who ran first. Long story short, a few died from the blast. But, hundreds died from falling off a cliff and drowning in a canal.
- magduf 8y ago
  All those people didn't know how to swim? Or was the fall too high?
  - Kye 8y ago
    Drowning humans latch on to whatever's near out of instinct. Some portion of 100+ doing that will get a lot of good swimmers killed.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- tzs 8y ago
  For animals where leadership is whoever happens to be in front, rather than a specific animal in their social ranking, you can get an hilarious situation where the herd has looped back on itself, so no one (or everyone, depending on how you look at it) is leading [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuS2ThE2q4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuS2ThE2q4
joejerryronnie 8y ago
Reminds me of the Battle at Kruger: https://youtu.be/LU8DDYz68kM https://youtu.be/LU8DDYz68kM

sornaensis 8y ago

Some kind of result of co-evolving? Predators thinning out weaker members of the herd keeps the overall health of the herd up. Just some quick speculation.

agumonkey 8y ago

maybe a hormonal variable at play, anybody can fight when enraged, even if on average they might flee

simonh 8y ago

I suspect it very much depends on the initial conditions. A Zebra that decides to try to scare off the Lion, but isn't backed up by the rest of the herd, or isn't backed up by enough of them quickly enough, is dead meat. The problem is their ability to communicate with each other and co-ordinate is too limited.

maxxxxx 8y ago
" A Zebra that decides to try to scare off the Lion, but isn't backed up by the rest of the herd, or isn't backed up by enough of them quickly enough, is dead meat. " Not necessarily true. An injury by a kick is a huge problem for the predator so they often shy away if the animal fights back. I have seen plenty of videos where single zebras or deer chased a predator away. Obviously this changes if there are several predators.
- simonh 8y ago
  The trouble is Lions generally hunt as a pack.

vezycash 8y ago

For social animals like chicken, sheep, even humans the action of the group is often determined by a few - the leaders or the first to act. If the first chicken panicked and ran, the rest would. I'm guessing the fox ran into the aggressive ones first. To put humans into context here. Once, a couple of bombs went off in an Amory. People panicked and ran. Everyone ran in the direction of those who ran first. Long story short, a few died from the blast. But, hundreds died from falling off a cliff and drowning in a canal.

magduf 8y ago
All those people didn't know how to swim? Or was the fall too high?
- Kye 8y ago
  Drowning humans latch on to whatever's near out of instinct. Some portion of 100+ doing that will get a lot of good swimmers killed.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
tzs 8y ago
For animals where leadership is whoever happens to be in front, rather than a specific animal in their social ranking, you can get an hilarious situation where the herd has looped back on itself, so no one (or everyone, depending on how you look at it) is leading [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuS2ThE2q4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuS2ThE2q4

joejerryronnie 8y ago

Reminds me of the Battle at Kruger: https://youtu.be/LU8DDYz68kM https://youtu.be/LU8DDYz68kM