Chapter 11: Antipredator Behavior
Alligator Encounter
© Jack P. Hailman
Animals trade off foraging for vigilance, as early detection of predators allows individuals to behave in a manner that reduces their risk of predation. Here, a tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor) detects and withdraws from a juvenile American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), which swims forward and encounters both a snowy egret (Egretta thula) and a white ibis (Eudocimus albus). These birds similarly withdraw as the alligator advances, but they keep the potential predator in sight. Predator inspection serves to reduce the probability of attack by advertising to the predator that it has been detected, and such inspection provides presumptive prey with information that allows them to take appropriate evasive action.
See Chapter 11 – Antipredator Behavior.
Further reading – Dugatkin, L.A. & Godin, J.-G.J. (1992). Prey approaching predators: A cost-benefit perspective. Annales Zoologici Fennici 29: 233-252.