Prey Hunting Research Articles

Late Pleistocene mammalian fauna from Wulanmulan Paleolithic Site, Nei Mongol, China

Discovered in 2010 with the construction of Landscape Park on the left bank of Wulanmulun River in Kangbashi District of Nei Mongol, Wulanmulun Paleolithic Site yielded large quantities of mammalian specimens during 2010–2012 rescue excavations. Identified fossil materials include Myospalax sp., Cricetulus sp., Microtus sp., Apodemus sp., Arvicola sp.?, Dipodidae gen. et sp. indet., Lepus sp., Mustelidae gen. et sp. indet., Coelodonta antiquitatis, Equus przewalskii, Camelus cf. C. knoblochi Megaloceros ordosianus and Gazella sp. The fauna analyses show that the paleoenvironment in Wulanmulun Site area might have been a mixture or mosaic of grassland and forest with some small streams and swamps. The fluctuation of annual temperature might have been high, with the winter very cold and the summer relatively warm. The Wulanmulun fauna is in the same paleozoogeographic sub-province as Baotou, Shiyu, Salawusu and Loufangzi faunas, different from that of the Xiaogushan and Yanjiagang faunas of Northeast China, and more different from that of the Dantu fauna of East China. The Wulanmulun area was suitable for the habitation of the late Paleolithic humans, and Wulanmulun fauna were their main hunting prey.

Experimental projectile impact marks on bone: implications for identifying the origins of projectile technology

The ability of Homo sapiens to kill prey at a distance is arguably one of the catalysts for our current ecological dominance. Despite the importance of projectile technology in human hunting strategies, there is still no consensus on when it first emerged. Most evidence has stemmed from analysis of the lithic projectiles themselves, not the trauma left on the bones of hunted prey. There is a growing body of research focused on zooarchaeological projectile impact marks in European assemblages; however, comparable investigations are rare in the African Middle Stone Age (MSA), where it has been suggested that simple hafted projectile technology first arose. There are no standardised criteria for identifying projectile impact marks on bone and no large experimental studies exist that examine marks left by MSA points specifically. This paper defines the various forms of stone-tipped projectile impact marks on bone using a large and variable experimentally-produced sample, and then applies this system to description of marks left by replica MSA Levallois and Howieson's Poort points. The differences between projectile impact marks and slicing cut marks, marks created by different projectile modes (spear and arrow), lithic typologies (Levallois and Howieson's Poort), and distances (long versus short range) are examined. It is shown that although most projectile marks do not resemble slicing cut marks, the projectile mode, point type, and distance cannot be differentiated based on mark morphology.

Population density and abundance of sympatric large carnivores in the lowland tropical evergreen forest of Indian Eastern Himalayas

Low density occurrence of large carnivore species and direct hunting of predators and prey make carnivore conservation complex. Vital baseline information on population status of large carnivores is still deficient in most forests of eastern Himalaya, which are known to be the biodiversity hotspots. To fill this information gap, we estimated the large carnivore population status and abundance in an intricate eastern Himalayan lowland tropical forest in Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. Population status and abundance estimates of tigers and leopards were made through individual identification using closed capture-recapture sampling. To estimate the dhole abundance photographic encounter rate was used. For individually non-identifiable species photographic rate seemed to correlate well with animal abundance. The estimated tiger and leopard density through 1/2 MMDM was 2.14±0.04/100km2 and 2.99±1.13/100km2 respectively. Maximum likelihood estimates shows density of tiger 1.86±0.7 and for leopard 2.82±1.2.The estimated dhole abundance was (N) 10.6±0.94, and density 6.62±0.58 individuals in 100km2. Further, occupancy estimation of large carnivores may be tried along with assessing the comparative efficacy of other population estimation methods to establish better monitoring methods for this region.

Analysis of China Ancient and Modern Sports Architecture

Ancient sports activities have led to the emergence of sports buildings, generally, sites or buildings that for sports activities occur, can be considered sports architecture. Since ancient times, as the sports facilities, sports building development has always been the social productive forces, social and economic affects, the level of science and technology and political culture. Mark the rise and fall of sports buildings but also the historical period of economic level and the national strength. Early human sports activities for the purpose of more hunting prey to survive. With the development of social productive forces, science and technology and cultural level of progress, and social, human sports activities in the political, military, religious, cultural and artistic activities began to closely together.

Implications of African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) denning on the density and distribution of a key prey species: addressing myths and misperceptions

African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are often the least popular large carnivore among game ranchers because of their perceived impact on prey populations. Landowner perceptions include that wild dogs greatly deplete prey during their three-month denning period, take prey that could otherwise be sold for hunting and cause prey to move away from the vicinity of their den sites. Landowners’ tolerance towards African wild dogs could thus be improved with a more rigorous understanding of the actual impact of wild dogs on prey populations during the denning period. Using impala density data and wild dog denning records from Sango Ranch in the Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe, we compared impala densities between pre-denning, denning and post-denning season and between inside and outside the denning home range. Our results indicate that wild dog denning does not cause a significant local reduction in prey around the den and does not cause prey to move away from denning areas. However prey species did occur in lower density inside the denning home ranges than outside, in all seasons. This result indicates that wild dogs select dens in areas of lower prey density, perhaps as an avoidance mechanism for lions. Accordingly, contrary to what landowners believe, wild dogs do not have a significant impact on prey populations during their denning season.

Muscular Anatomy of the Forelimbs of the Lesser Grison (Galictis cuja), and a Functional and Phylogenetic Overview of Mustelidae and Other Caniformia

The extrinsic and intrinsic forelimb musculature of the lesser grison (Galictis cuja), a short-legged mustelid of southern South America, is studied for the first time. We present descriptions, muscular maps, and weight data. Muscular anatomy description of the lesser grison provides the framework for discussing the myological diversity of mustelids and other caniforms, for addressing nomenclatural problems (such as synonymy and homonymy), and for highlighting some functional and phylogenetically informative traits. We recognize in the lesser grison features shared by all mustelid species, and some other caniforms, especially mephitids, such as the presence of rhomboideus profundus, an angular head of triceps brachii, and, apparently, the absence of a flexor digitorum brevis manus. An unexpected record of articularis humeri, a proximal origin of the brachioradialis, and the absence of the tensor fascia antebrachii are recorded for this species. As other ictonychines and mustelines, Galictis cuja possesses stronger and subdivided protractors and sagittal rotators of the forelimbs, as well as shoulder and elbow extensors. These features allow for resistance in landing during bounds and increase the stride length during epigean and subterranean crouched locomotion. Powerful neck musculature assists during hunting and carrying of prey. Weakness of some retractors and intrinsic flexors is related to a relatively minor importance of the forelimbs as propellers during bounding and the lack of other specializations. The configuration of the rhomboideus and the absence of coracobrachialis seem to be informative at the subfamiliar level within Mustelidae. The comprehensive and comparative review of available information leads us to propose possible solutions to old nomenclatural problems and of identification. This allows us to reassess of some myological features as diagnostic of caniform clades.

Effects of predator and prey hunting and escape strategies on ecosystem dynamics

Understanding of an ecosystem’s resilience and stability requires an understanding of predatorprey dynamics because ecosystems consist of dynamical interacting subsystems that include predator-prey relationships. These relationships are closely related to the hunting-escaping strategies employed by the predator and prey. Therefore, understanding the effects of hunting and escaping strategies on ecosystems will lead to a better understanding of those systems. To this end, we constructed a spatially explicit lattice model to simulate integrative predator-prey-plant relationships. When an individual simultaneously encounters its predator and prey, either hunting or escaping should take priority. Hunting priority is referred to as a hunting preferred strategy (HPS), while escape priority is referred to as an escape preferred strategy (EPS). These strategies are associated with some degree of willingness to either hunt (H) or escape (E). In our model, the willingness of an individual to hunt or escape increased with increasing value of H or E, respectively we investigated changes in the predicted population densities for predator, prey, and plant species with changes in the values of H and E. Simulation results indicated that HPS positively contributed to ecosystem stability because those individuals that employed HPS had a greater chance of reproduction than those that employed EPS. In addition, we briefly discuss the development of our model as a tool for understanding behavioral strategies in specific predator-prey interactions.

Phylogenetics of Panthera, including Panthera atrox, based on craniodental characters

The phylogenetic position of Panthera atrox within Felidae is still controversial despite many morphological and molecular studies addressing its relationships. This is in part due to the lack of consensus on a tree for Panthera. These inconsistencies suggest the need for further analysis and perhaps even different methodology to better understand pantherine evolution. Morphologic characters from the skull and dentary were analysed within Panthera to elucidate pantherine phylogeny. Extant taxa included Panthera leo (African lion), Panthera tigris (tiger), Panthera onca (jaguar), Panthera pardus (leopard), Uncia uncia (snow leopard) and Neofelis nebulosa (clouded leopard). Four outgroups were used: Crocuta crocuta (spotted hyena), Metailurus spp., Proailurus lemanensis and Pseudaelurus validus. Our study found a clade containing Panthera leo, Panthera tigris and Panthera atrox, suggesting that Panthera atrox is more closely related to the African lion and the tiger than the jaguar, in contrast to what has been recently proposed. Moreover, gross morphological similarities between Panthera atrox and Panthera onca are more likely the result of convergent hunting styles and/or prey selection, rather than phylogenetic affinity.

Wolf Pack Algorithm for Unconstrained Global Optimization

The wolf pack unites and cooperates closely to hunt for the prey in the Tibetan Plateau, which shows wonderful skills and amazing strategies. Inspired by their prey hunting behaviors and distribution mode, we abstracted three intelligent behaviors, scouting, calling, and besieging, and two intelligent rules, winner-take-all generation rule of lead wolf and stronger-survive renewing rule of wolf pack. Then we proposed a new heuristic swarm intelligent method, named wolf pack algorithm (WPA). Experiments are conducted on a suit of benchmark functions with different characteristics, unimodal/multimodal, separable/nonseparable, and the impact of several distance measurements and parameters on WPA is discussed. What is more, the compared simulation experiments with other five typical intelligent algorithms, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm, artificial fish swarm algorithm, artificial bee colony algorithm, and firefly algorithm, show that WPA has better convergence and robustness, especially for high-dimensional functions.

Zooarchaeological and Stable Isotopic Assessments on Pinniped–Human Relations in the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, Southern South America)

ABSTRACTRecent zooarchaeological investigations in the Beagle Channel region have shown long‐term variations characterised by a high inter‐taxonomic dominance of pinnipeds during the first moments of the archaeological sequence (ca 6400 bp) at the Túnel Locality and a decrease in the relative importance of this resource and a diversification of subsistence in that place since 5500 bp. Two possible explanations for these variations are evaluated: (i) variations in foraging habits of pinnipeds that would lead to changes in the degree of predictability or access to the resource and (ii) a reduction in resource availability because of increased human predation pressure. To analyse these arguments, this paper presents and discusses the results of an analysis of stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) from collagen samples of South American fur seals (Arctocephalus australis) and representations of age and size of pinnipeds in the archaeological record of Túnel. Stable isotope analyses suggest that there were variations in the foraging behaviour of southern fur seals at the same time that zooarchaeological analyses record decreases of the ages and sizes of the hunted prey. On the basis of these results, an increase of hunter–gatherer predation pressure on pinnipeds to the Middle–Late Holocene in southern South America is suggested. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Noteworthy record of subsistence hunting and meat consumption of jaguarundi (<i>Puma yagouaroundi</i>) in Colombia

ABSTRACTWild felids in the Americas are generally considered as cultural icons and are respected and revered by most of the cultures. However, they are considered threatened across their ranges, mostly by habitat loss and fragmentation, and both direct and prey hunting. Small felids are usually seriously affected by retaliation hunting caused by conflicts derived from wild cats’ predation on domestic animals; however, few records exist for subsistence hunting and consumption of these species by local communities. Here we report the hunting and consumption of and adult male jaguarundi in the Cordoba department of Colombia. The animal was hunted using dogs; the carcass was prepared and was saved for later consumption during religious holidays by the entire community. This represents the first direct record of jaguarundi consumption across its range, representing an important aspect for wild felids’ conservation among rural marginalized communities across Latin America. Key Words: Carnivora, Colombia, Córdoba, felidae, poaching, Puma yagouaroudi, South America, Palabras clave: Cacería, Carnívora, Colombia, Córdoba, Felidae, Puma yagouaroundi, Suramérica

New schizophorid fossils from China and possible evolutionary scenarios for Jurassic archostematan beetles

The new genus Abrohadeocoleodes gen. nov. with four new species, A. eurycladus sp. nov., A. ooideus sp. nov., A. nii sp. nov. and A. patefactus sp. nov., and a new species, Menopraesagus oryziformis sp. nov., assigned to the extinct family Schizophoridae (Archostemata) are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of eastern Inner Mongolia, China. Nearly 20 extinct schizophorid genera have been discovered throughout the world. These fossil records are of some significance in piecing together the evolution of the suborders Adephaga and Archostemata. Members of the new genus Abrohadeocoleodes appear to have a prognathous head with fairly large mandibles, a narrow linear space between the antennal fossa, large metatrochanter, and long and thin legs, as in some terrestrial Adephaga. They might have been able to run fast and hunt small prey over the open ground of lakeshores similarly to the earliest adephagan beetles. Furthermore, Abrohadeocoleodes exhibits a mixture of characters of both Archostemata and Adephaga, suggesting that it may share synapomorphies with Mesozoic adephagan beetles. In addition, the length ratio of the last to the penultimate abdominal ventrites in Schizophoridae shows an increasing trend from the Early Triassic to the Late Jurassic, suggesting that the species with a lower length ratio might have lived in more ancient times. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:EBC0CDA1-C076-471B-A40C-81F1A9A40B03

The noble cats and the big bad scavengers: effects of dominant scavengers on solitary predators

Scavenging is an important but poorly understood ecological process. Dominant scavengers can impose a selection pressure that alters the predator’s fitness, morphology, behavior, and ecology. Interactions between ursids, likely the most important dominant scavengers in the Holarctic region, and solitary felids, which are characterized by long feeding times, provide a good opportunity for studying the effects of kleptoparasitism by dominant scavengers. We analyzed the effects of scavenging by brown bears Ursus arctos on Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx and predator’s response to kleptoparasitism in a European temperate forest ecosystem. Bears found 32 % of lynx prey remains and 15 % of all biomass of large prey killed by lynx was lost to bears. In response, lynx increased their kill rate by 23 % but were able to compensate for only 59 % of the losses. The frequency of bear scavenging was strongly dependent on bear activity patterns and was highest during the lynx pregnancy and lactation period, when up to half of lynx kills were usurped by bears. We suggest that ursid scavenging, by promoting the hunting of smaller prey, may have played an important role in the evolution of the Lynx genus as well as other predators in the Holarctic. Our study indicates that prey loss to dominant scavengers is a widespread phenomenon among felids worldwide, including forest habitats. We highlight several implications of scavenging that could considerably improve our understanding of the ecology of vertebrate communities and the evolution of predators as well as benefit the future management and conservation of endangered predators.

Multi-objective energy aware multiprocessor scheduling using bat intelligence

In this paper, a new heuristic called bat intelligence (BI) is introduced for solving energy aware multiprocessor scheduling problems. Bat intelligence is a novel optimization method that models prey hunting behaviors of bats. Bat intelligence and genetic algorithm (GA) are used to solve single-objective multiprocessor scheduling problem using, makespan, tardiness, and energy consumption as objective functions. Bat intelligence shows considerable improvement in terms of solution quality when compared with GA. Different combinations of these objectives are used to solve bi-objective multiprocessor scheduling problems, (makespan vs. energy, and also tardiness vs. energy). Tri-objective multiprocessor scheduling problem is also presented at the end. To generate desirable efficient alternatives, a Normalized Weighted Additive Utility Function is used. Simulation shows that BI identifies a set of efficient solutions that correspond to the assigned weights. The computational simulation also shows conflicting relationships between makespan and energy, and also between tardiness and energy.

Visual fields and eye morphology support color vision in a color-changing crab-spider

Vision plays a major role in many spiders, being involved in prey hunting, orientation or substrate choice, among others. In Misumena vatia, which experiences morphological color changes, vision has been reported to be involved in substrate color matching. Electrophysiological evidence reveals that at least two types of photoreceptors are present in this species, but these data are not backed up by morphological evidence. This work analyzes the functional structure of the eyes of this spider and relates it to its color-changing abilities. A broad superposition of the visual field of the different eyes was observed, even between binocular regions of principal and secondary eyes. The frontal space is simultaneously analyzed by four eyes. This superposition supports the integration of the visual information provided by the different eye types. The mobile retina of the principal eyes of this spider is organized in three layers of three different types of rhabdoms. The third and deepest layer is composed by just one large rhabdom surrounded by dark screening pigments that limit the light entry. The three pairs of secondary eyes have all a single layer of rhabdoms. Our findings provide strong support for an involvement of the visual system in color matching in this spider.

Beam-width control of echolocation pulses in Japanese CF-FM bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum nippon) during aerial prey hunting.

Beam-width control of echolocation pulses in Japanese CF-FM bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum nippon) during aerial prey hunting.

Bat intelligence search with application to multi-objective multiprocessor scheduling optimization

In this paper, we present the bat intelligence search for the first time. Bat intelligence is a novel and unique heuristic that models two major prey hunting behaviors of bats: (a) utilization of echolocation to observe the environment and (b) employment of constant absolute target direction approach to pursue preys. In order to illustrate the performance of bat intelligence, we implement this heuristic to solve two types of multiprocessor scheduling problems (MSP): single objective MSP and multi-objective MSP. In single objective MSP, we independently solve for minimization of makespan and minimization of tardiness. In multiple objective MSP, these two objectives are optimized simultaneously. In the single objective MSP, on average, the bat intelligence outperformed the list algorithm and the genetic algorithm by 11.12% when solving for minimization of makespan and by 23.97% when solving for the minimization of tardiness. In comparison to the genetic algorithm, the bat intelligence produces better results for the same computational effort. In multiple objective MSP, bat intelligence is combined with normalized weighted additive utility function to generate a set of efficient solutions by varying the weights of importance. The results demonstrate that the bat intelligence finds a set of Pareto optimal solutions on bi-objective optimization of MSP.

On Group Living and Collaborative Hunting in the Yellow Saddle Goatfish (Parupeneus cyclostomus)1

Intraspecific group hunting has received considerable attention by researchers interested in cooperative behaviour and animal cognition. Differences between species in the complexity of the hunting with respect to communication, coordination and food sharing have typically been interpreted as a reflection of differences in cognitive abilities. Here we describe for the first time collaborative hunting where individuals play different roles in a fish species, the yellow saddle goatfish Parupeneus cyclostomus. Adults in our study area may live either solitarily or in relatively stable groups formed of similar sized and most likely unrelated individuals. The solitary life style was associated with searching for hidden immobile prey on sandy areas while group living was associated with collaborative hunting of mobile prey in corals. Any member of a group could initiate a hunt by rapid acceleration. Partners did not simply follow the attacker but deviated around coral formation to block the prey’s escape routes. Prey that escaped into a coral crevice was typically encircled with maximal inter-individual distance and pried on by insertion of the barbels into the crevices. As home ranges largely overlapped and no between-group aggression existed, we propose that it is the hunting of mobile prey in a complexly structured habitat that selects for collaborative hunting and hence for the evolution of group living in yellow saddle goatfish.

The periaqueductal gray as a critical site to mediate reward seeking during predatory hunting

Previous studies using morphine-treated dams reported a role for the rostral lateral periaqueductal gray (rlPAG) in the behavioral switching between nursing and insect hunting, likely to depend on an enhanced seeking response to the presence of an appetitive rewarding cue (i.e., the roach). To elucidate the neural mechanisms mediating such responses, in the present study, we first observed how the rlPAG influences predatory hunting in male rats. Our behavioral observations indicated that bilateral rlPAG NMDA lesions dramatically interfere with prey hunting, leaving the animal without chasing or attacking the prey, but do not seem to affect the general levels of arousal, locomotor activity and regular feeding. Next, using Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin (PHA-L), we have reviewed the rlPAG connection pattern, and pointed out a particularly dense projection to the hypothalamic orexinergic cell group. Double labeled PHA-L and orexin sections showed an extensive overlap between PHA-L labeled fibers and orexin cells, revealing that both the medial/perifornical and lateral hypothalamic orexinergic cell groups receive a substantial innervation from the rlPAG. We have further observed that both the medial/perifornical and lateral hypothalamic orexinergic cell groups up-regulate Fos expression during prey hunting, and that rlPAG lesions blunted this Fos increase only in the lateral hypothalamic, but not in the medial/perifornical, orexinergic group, a finding supposedly associated with the lack of motivational drive to actively pursue the prey. Overall, the present results suggest that the rlPAG should exert a critical influence on reward seeking by activating the lateral hypothalamic orexinergic cell group.

Archaeozoological analysis of the osteological material from the Neolithic pile dwellings in the Dvina–Lovat area: economy and ecology

The faunistic material from several Neolithic sites in the Dvina–Lovat Area (Serteya II, VIII, X, XI, RudnyaSerteya, Dubokrai V, VII, Naumovo [layers A and B], and Usvyaty IV [layers A, B and α]) was studied. As shown by the animal remains, the subsistence of the early Neolithic settlements of North-Western Russia was based on hunting supplemented by fishing. Large ungulates constituted the preferred hunting prey, followed by fur animals. During the Middle and Late Neolithic the climate became cooler and drier, and the coniferous forests gradually replaced the mixed broad-leaved ones. The appearance of domesticates, the horse and cattle, was the most important feature in the sites of the mid-third millennium BC. The analysis of the osteological material leaves one in no doubt that the Neolithic pile dwellings were inhabited perennially. The occurrence of animal remains procured in the winter and summer proves that these were sedentary and not seasonal settlements.