Global InformationPack hunter information
A pack hunter or social predator is a predatory animal which hunts its prey by working together with other members of its species.[1] Normally animals hunting in this way are closely related, and with the exceptions of chimpanzees where only males normally hunt, all individuals in a family group contribute to hunting. When hunting cooperation is across two or more species, the broader term cooperative hunting is commonly used.
A well known pack hunter is the gray wolf; humans too can be considered pack hunters. Other pack hunting mammals include chimpanzees, dolphins, lions, dwarf and banded mongooses, and spotted hyenas. Avian social predators include the Harris's hawk, butcherbirds, three of four kookaburra species and many helmetshrikes. Other pack hunters include army ants, the goldsaddle goatfish,[2] and occasionally crocodiles.[3]
Pack hunting is typically associated with cooperative breeding and its concentration in the Afrotropical realm is a reflection of this.[4] Most pack hunters are found in the southern African savannas, with a notable absence in tropical rainforests and with the exception of the wolf and coyote, higher latitudes.[4] It is thought that either on the ancient and poor soils of the southern African savanna it is not possible for individual predators to find adequate food,[5] or that the environment's inherent unpredictability due to ENSO or IOD events means that in very bad conditions it will not be possible to raise the young necessary to prevent declining populations from adult mortality. It is also argued that Africa's large area of continuous flat and open country, which was even more extensive while rainforest contracted during glacial periods of the Quaternary, may have helped encourage pack hunting to become much more common than on any other continent.[6]
Around 80–95% of carnivores are solitary and hunt alone; the others including lions,[7] wild dogs,[8] spotted hyenas,[9] chimpanzees,[10] and humans hunt cooperatively, at least some of the time.[11] Cooperative hunting has also been documented in birds of prey[12] and large marine vertebrates such as groupers and moray eels.[1] Cooperative hunting has been linked to the social organization of animal species and the evolution of sociality and thus provides a unique perspective to study group behavior.[13][14] Some non-avian theropod dinosaurs may have displayed pack behaviour.[15][16][17]
- ^ a b Bshary R.; Hohner A.; Ait-el-Djoudi K.; Fricke H. (2006). "Interspecific communicative and coordinated hunting between groupers and giant moray eels in the Red Sea". PLOS Biology. 4 (12): 431. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040431. PMC 1750927. PMID 17147471.
- ^ Strübin, Carine; Steinegger, Marc; Bshary, Redouan (2011). "On Group Living and Collaborative Hunting in the Yellow Saddle Goatfish (Parupeneus cyclostomus)". Ethology. 117 (11): 961–969. Bibcode:2011Ethol.117..961S. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.01966.x.
- ^ "Cooperative Feeding :: Florida Museum of Natural History".
- ^ a b For a brief explanation see Rubenstein, Dustin R.; Lovette, Irby J. (2007). "Temporal Environmental Variability Drives the Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds". Current Biology. 17 (16): 1414–1419. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.07.032. PMID 17702577. S2CID 4832256.
- ^ See McMahon T. A. and Finlayson, B.; Global Runoff: Continental Comparisons of Annual Flows and Peak Discharges ISBN 3-923381-27-1
- ^ Box, Hilary O.; Gibson, Kathleen R. (editors); Mammalian Social Learning: Comparative and Ecological Perspectives, Issue 72; p. 266. ISBN 9780521031950
- ^ Packer C.; Scheel D.; Pusey A.E. (1990). "Why lions form groups: Food is not enough". The American Naturalist. 136: 1–19. doi:10.1086/285079. S2CID 85145653.
- ^ Creel, S.; Creel, N. M. (1995). "Communal hunting and pack size in African wild dogs, Lycaon pictus". Animal Behaviour. 50 (5): 1325–1339. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(95)80048-4. S2CID 53180378.
- ^ MacDonald, D. (1983). "The ecology of carnivore social behavior". Nature. 301 (5899): 379–384. Bibcode:1983Natur.301..379M. doi:10.1038/301379a0. S2CID 4258066.
- ^ Boesch, C. (1994). "Cooperative hunting in wild chimpanzees". Animal Behaviour. 48 (3): 653–667. doi:10.1006/anbe.1994.1285. S2CID 53177700.
- ^ Alvard M.S. (2003). "Kinship, lineage, and an evolutionary perspective on cooperative hunting groups in Indonesia". Human Nature. 14 (2): 129–163. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.131.5106. doi:10.1007/s12110-003-1001-5. PMID 26190056. S2CID 18160520.
- ^ Hector D.P. (1986). "Cooperative hunting and its relationship to foraging success and prey size in an avian predator". Ethology. 73 (3): 247–257. Bibcode:1986Ethol..73..247H. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1986.tb00915.x.
- ^ Lührs, M.; Dammhahn, M. (2010). "An unusual case of cooperative hunting in a solitary carnivore". Ethology. 28 (2): 379–383. doi:10.1007/s10164-009-0190-8.
- ^ Packer C., Ruttan L. (1988). "The evolution of cooperative hunting". The American Naturalist. 132 (2): 159–198. doi:10.1086/284844. S2CID 84368885.
- ^ Li, R.; Lockley, M. G.; Makovicky, P. J.; et al. (March 2008). "Behavioral and faunal implications of Early Cretaceous deinonychosaur trackways from China". Naturwissenschaften. 95 (3): 185–191. Bibcode:2008NW.....95..185L. doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0310-7. PMID 17952398. S2CID 16380823.
- ^ Liu, Mingwei; Harris, Jerald D.; Norell, Mark A.; Matsukawa, Masaki; Makovicky, Peter J.; Lockley, Martin G.; Li, Rihui (2008). "Behavioral and faunal implications of Early Cretaceous deinonychosaur trackways from China". Naturwissenschaften. 95 (3): 185–191. Bibcode:2008NW.....95..185L. doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0310-7. PMID 17952398. S2CID 16380823.
- ^ Mudroch, A.; Richter, U.; Joger, U.; Kosma, R.; Idé, O.; Maga, A. (2011). "Didactyl Tracks of Paravian Theropods (Maniraptora) from the ?Middle Jurassic of Africa". PLOS ONE. 6 (2): e14642. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...614642M. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014642. PMC 3038851. PMID 21339816.