2 ms·
Surely there's some point where the ability of the individual to not expend energy inefficiently becomes balanced with the ability of the organism to evade tige
by tshaddox 5y ago
Surely there's some point where the ability of the individual to not expend energy inefficiently becomes balanced with the ability of the organism to evade tigers. It's clearly not true that the individual who thinks they hear a tiger more often (without bound) will be more successful at surviving/reproducing.
- Retric 5y agoSure, but that balance point still involves a lot of needless running before the energy costs become an issue.
- tshaddox 5y agoThis is really just an empirical question in ethology, but if I had to guess I'd say that prey animal in fact don't do a lot of needless running. On the contrary, I'd suspect their sense do a pretty darn good job at quickly determining the risk of predation.
- Retric 5y agoI regularly see prey animals doing a lot of running from me when I am not a threat to them. Even remote observation of fairly large prey animals like goats in their natural environment show them seemingly randomly get spooked.
- willcipriano 5y agoDon't be so hard on yourself.