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Actually, there's another similarity to biology. This also advertises to any other patent trolls thinking of suing them 'We are willing and able to fight back'.

Actually, there's another similarity to biology. This also advertises to any other patent trolls thinking of suing them 'We are willing and able to fight back'. So patent trolls will pick on some other company that's more likely to pay up. Some species of antelope, when pursued by a predator, will suddenly leap high into the air, jumping from all four feet at once. This is called stotting, and the best theory for why they do it is to signal to the predator: 'look, I can afford to waste energy doing this while you're chasing me; better focus on something a bit slower and weaker'.

hkmurakami 14y ago
Your fantastic description/imagery prompted me to look this up :) "A chance to see springbok antelopes, the most successful grazing animals in the Southern African Kalahari desert as they attempt to ward off a family of hungry cheetahs by jumping up to two metres into the air. " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr5Sru8gGSk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr5Sru8gGSk
m12k 14y ago
That sounds very cool! Although the rationalization for it sounds rather contrived - to me at least any of these explanation would sound at least as plausible: 1) The sudden vertical movement may cause a predator that is used to tracking its prey horizontally to lose sight of the specific animal in the flock, thus making it harder to run it down. 2) Statistically, the jump may prove to evade a certain percentage of pounces from the predator, that happen to coincide with it. 3) The split second of "rest" while in the air allows the muscles to "recharge" enough energy to enable another small sprint, thus giving the antelope a lifeline. 4) "Look, I could just as well be kicking you in the head if you get too close"
- takluyver 14y ago
  Other details suggest 1 & 2 are unlikely - they tend to make this manoeuvre when the predator is still some way off, and at least one species (Thomson's Gazelle) won't stot when a predator is within about 40 metres. It seems unlikely that the rest would outweigh the effort needed to jump 2 metres in the air (3), and I doubt a lion is worried about a kick from a gazelle (4). But yes, other explanations have been proposed. There's a list on Wikipedia if you look up Stotting.

hkmurakami 14y ago

Your fantastic description/imagery prompted me to look this up :) "A chance to see springbok antelopes, the most successful grazing animals in the Southern African Kalahari desert as they attempt to ward off a family of hungry cheetahs by jumping up to two metres into the air. " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr5Sru8gGSk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr5Sru8gGSk

m12k 14y ago

That sounds very cool! Although the rationalization for it sounds rather contrived - to me at least any of these explanation would sound at least as plausible: 1) The sudden vertical movement may cause a predator that is used to tracking its prey horizontally to lose sight of the specific animal in the flock, thus making it harder to run it down. 2) Statistically, the jump may prove to evade a certain percentage of pounces from the predator, that happen to coincide with it. 3) The split second of "rest" while in the air allows the muscles to "recharge" enough energy to enable another small sprint, thus giving the antelope a lifeline. 4) "Look, I could just as well be kicking you in the head if you get too close"

takluyver 14y ago
Other details suggest 1 & 2 are unlikely - they tend to make this manoeuvre when the predator is still some way off, and at least one species (Thomson's Gazelle) won't stot when a predator is within about 40 metres. It seems unlikely that the rest would outweigh the effort needed to jump 2 metres in the air (3), and I doubt a lion is worried about a kick from a gazelle (4). But yes, other explanations have been proposed. There's a list on Wikipedia if you look up Stotting.