Talk:Anti-predator adaptation

Methods of flight include rollerblading?
I notice that rollerblading is listed among the ways that prey may escape a predator. Unless we're including homo sapiens here, I'm dubious. 68.156.95.34 (talk) 07:56, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks. It was only vandalism - you can feel free to revert such things immediately. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:07, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I knew that if I did, it would turn out that there was some obscure cephalopod that could form its tentacles into rollerblades or something. :) 68.156.95.34 (talk) 08:16, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Suggested additions - symbiosis and borrowed substances/cells from other organisms
I'd like to add a section on symbiotic/cross-species defenses, such as the acacia tree's coopting of ants as defenses, or mixed-animal herds of ungulates in Africa (or mixed-species flocks of birds all over the place). (I believe there are bait fish that mixed-school but I haven't read about their behavior in probably decades.) [Yes, I know that trees aren't animals, but the principles are the same. If you prefer, substitute aphids for acacias--the cases are surprisingly similar.]

Also I'd like to have a separate section on animals that use stolen chemicals or cells to defend themselves, like slugs using jellyfish cnidocytes to have second-hand stings, or monarch butterflies using milkweed alkaloids to taste bad.

Any objections? IAmNitpicking (talk) 19:17, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Should be all right, as long as you're careful to choose and cite your sources properly. The article already mentions chemicals acquired from host plants. What I don't want to happen this time round is to have the whole structure rejiggled randomly ... been there. It would be worth thinking out the overlaps between symbiosis, co-evolution, and the current article, and then updating all of them, with suitable links and the minimum of duplication. Chiswick Chap (talk) 20:04, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Why is seed-eating "predation" but eating whole plants not?
The estimable Chiswick Chap insists that only the consumption of seeds is "predation" for the purposes of this article. I don't see it. Is it just linguistic, that some source uses that word? IAmNitpicking (talk) 16:46, 18 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Not me, the world community of ecologists. A seed (or an egg) is a whole organism at one stage in its life-cycle. Eating it is killing an organism for food, which is the definition of predation, and seed predation is a well-defined concept in ecology. There are reliable sources at predation on the topic, and many others on Google Scholar. Eating a part of a plant, as when a cow eats grass, is herbivory but not predation. It is very difficult for most herbivores to eat a whole plant; for instance, a grass clone may spread over a whole field, and includes the roots which are hard to reach. Other examples could of course be given, but that's not the issue here.Chiswick Chap (talk) 21:39, 18 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Thanks for clarifying. I continue to disagree, but an encyclopedia is not the place to argue with the field's standard usage. IAmNitpicking (talk) 14:25, 19 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Thanks. It's no part of my duty to defend the standard usage, but it's actually clear and logical in this case. Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:52, 19 September 2018 (UTC)