~ ANIMAL ~

[MysteRy]

Cow




A cow is a mature female and a bull an adult male of a bovine family. A heifer is a female cow that hasn’t had a calf yet. Cattle is the name for the whole “cow” family.

There are about 920 different breeds of cows in the world. They were domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Cows came to America with the Pilgrims.

Modern domestic cattle are believed to belong to either the species Bos taurus (like Holstein, Brown Swiss, Jersey and Guemsey), or the species Bos indicus which are humped cattle like the Brahman. Some cattle are a cross between those two species.

The smallest type of cow is a breed called Dexter, which was bred a small size for household living. Cows can live 25 years. You can guess the age of a cow that has horns by counting the number of rings on the horns.

Cows have almost total 360 degree panoramic vision and are able to see colors, except red. They can detect odors up to 5 miles away. Cows can hear lower and higher frequencies better than humans.

Per day, a cows spends 6 hours eating and 8 hours chewing cud. A cow doesn’t bite the grass, but she curls her tongue around it. A cow has no upper front teeth.

The average cow drinks about 30 gallons of water and eats about 95 pounds of feed per day.

A cow stands up and sits down about 14 times a day.

The mean gestation period of a cow is between 279 and 290 days. The bond between a cow and her calf is very strong and continues after the calf is fully grown. In non-commercial herds, some cows will nurse their calves for up to 3 years.

A cow weighs about 1400 pounds. A 1000 pound cow produces an average of 10 tons of manure a year.

Cows are very social animals. They form large herds and will bond to some herd members while avoiding others. They “moo” and use different body positions and facial expressions to communicate with each other.

A Holstein’s spots are like a fingerprint. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.

A cow has one stomach containing four digestive compartments: the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The rumen is the largest compartment and acts as a fermentation chamber. The abomasum is last of the four and is comparable in both structure and function to the human stomach.

Cows have cloven hooves. In galloping through boggy places or in deep mud, cattle can run faster than a horse. Their toes spread, and therefore their wide feet do not sink so deep as do those of the solid-hoofed horse.

[MysteRy]

Sparrows




•Sparrows are loosely monogamous. Both the female and the male take care of the young ones, though the female does most of the brooding.

•These birds are aggressive and social, which increases their ability to compete with most native birds.

•They can swim to escape from predators, although they are not considered to be water birds.

•The difference between a male and a female sparrow is that the former has a reddish back and a black bib, whereas the female has brown back with eye stripe.

•Sparrow nests are bulky, roofed affairs. They are haphazardly built and without good workmanship, unlike what is displayed by other weaver finches.

•The nest building is initiated by an unmated male, who begins the construction while displaying it to the females. The females do assist in nest building, but are less active than the male.

•In cool season, sparrows build specially created roost nests or roost in streetlights, to avoid losing heat during the winter.

•Sparrows are generally not territorial, but they are quite aggressive when it comes to protecting their nest from intruders of the same sex.

•They prefer to live near human dwellings, especially if there are bird feeders. They are generally found in farming areas, cities and suburbs.

•Sparrows are around 14-16 cm long. They are chirpy, with grey and brown color. They have the ability to fly at the speed of 38.5 km/hour and can even reach a speed of 50 km/hour.

•These birds usually nest in cavities, but some may nest in bushes and trees as well. They build untidy nests of grass and assorted rubbish, including wool, feathers and fine vegetative material.

•Manmade environments have always been a source of food and shelter for sparrows. They usually nest under the eaves of homes and in holes in the walls of buildings or in climbing plants that grow on walls.

•Sparrows raise three nests of 3-5 eggs. Both male and female helps to incubate the eggs for 12-15 days. The fledglings usually fly out after 15 days.

•The population of sparrows has been declining, as there is less food for them, because of fewer gardens. They are now on the threatened birds’ list in many parts of the world.

[MysteRy]

Horse




One of the first horses was called a Hyracotherium. It lived about 50 million years ago and was as tall as a fox. It had toes!

This horse changed over millions of years to become a modern horse.

Camargue horses are completely white as adults. Their babies are pure black when they are born.

There is a breed of horse from Russia called Akhal-Teke. It can go for days without food or water.

You can tell how old a horse is by how many teeth it has. A horse gets all of its teeth by the time it is five years old. After that, they just get longer.

A female horse is called a mare.

In the wild it is the mare that decides when the herd moves on to another spot to find food.

A male horse is called a stallion. Usually only one stallion will stay with a herd.

Any marking on a horse’s forehead is called a star, even if it is not shaped like a star.

Horses and ponies feel safer when they are in a herd.

Mustangs are one of the few breeds of horses that live wild in North America. They are related to the horses that the Spanish explorers brought to North America 400 years ago.

Horses can communicate how they are feeling by their facial expressions. They use their ears, nostrils, and eyes to show their moods.

Beware of a horse that has flared nostrils and their ears back. That means it might attack!

A hoof is like a fingernail. It is always growing and needs to be clipped so that it won’t be uncomfortable for the horse.

A farrier is a person who makes horse shoes and fits them on your horse.

They also clip hooves to keep them from getting overgrown.

A horse can move in four ways: walk, trot, canter, and gallop. A gallop is the fastest gait.

[MysteRy]

Snakes




There are around 3000 snake species in the world, and about 375 of these are venomous. From enormous ones like the python, which can swallow animals as large as a deer whole, to snakes that are just a few inches long, snakes can be found in all types of habitats.

While some climb trees, others live underground, and still others are found in the waters of lakes and even seas. Given below are some more fascinating facts about snakes.

Snakes are reptiles that have an elongated body that is flexible and limbless. The shape of the body of snakes is dependent on the habitat they live in.

For example, snakes that burrow underground have a tendency of being more compact, whereas the types that live in trees tend to be slender and long equipped with a prehensile tail which they use to grasp branches, while the body of aquatic snakes is generally flattened.

Snakes occur in a large variety of colors, ranging from dull to brilliant hues with striking patterns. Snakes that have dull coloring use it for camouflage, while those that are brightly colored are usually poisonous.

They use their bright colors to warn predators to stay off. Some non-poisonous snakes mimic the patterns and bright colors of poisonous snakes to fool predators.

As for the size, while the anaconda can grow up to 38 feet in length, the brahminy blind snake is just 2 inches long, making it the smallest snake.

Snakes occur practically all over the world, apart from places like Greenland, Iceland, and Antarctica. However, it is in the tropical regions of the world that most snakes are found.

Like all reptiles, snakes are cold-blooded, which means they do not have the ability of generating adequate amounts of heat in order to keep their body temperature at a constant level. Instead, they are dependent on the heat from their surroundings and the sun to control the temperature of their body. This is the reason most snake species are found in the humid and warm climes of tropical regions.

Another interesting fact about snakes is that they need to shed their skin regularly while they grow, a process known as molting. Snakes shed their skin by rubbing their head against something rough and hard, like a piece of wood or a rock.

This causes the skin, which is already stretched, to split open. The snake keeps on rubbing its skin on various rough objects, resulting in the skin peeling off from its head, enabling it to crawl out, turning the skin inside out.

Snakes have the ability of surviving without food for many days at a stretch after having a filling meal. This is because they have a slow rate of metabolism. In fact, the King Cobra, for example, can go for months without food.

Snakes do not have any eyelids; instead, a transparent scale protects their eyes. Also, they are deaf to airborne sounds, and they ‘hear’ by picking up vibrations through their jawbones.

Plus, snakes use their forked tongue to smell. The tongue gathers particles that are airborne which it then passes to the Jacobson’s Organ, a specialized organ located on the roof of the snake’s mouth.

Snakes have the unique ability of swallowing prey three times larger than their mouth. They can do this because the special tendons located in their mouth are highly stretchable and because the two halves of their jaws are not attached to each other rigidly.

Snakes have more than 200 teeth, which they do not use to chew, since they point backwards, but bite and grip their prey securely.

Being extremely shy animals, we are just beginning to learn more interesting facts about snakes. However, many of their species are disappearing completely for various reasons like being wantonly killed due to fear or for their skins, while their habitats are being continuously eroded and destroyed by us.

[MysteRy]

Dogs




Dogs have been domesticated for 10,000 years.

There are over 200 different breeds of dogs

Canis Familiaris is the Latin name for dog.

The largest dogs among all breeds, at least in terms of height, is the Irish Wolfhound.

Nearly all but two breeds of dogs have pink tongues. The two exceptions? The Chow Chow and the Shar-pei, both with black tongues.

The Basenji is the only barkless dog in the world.

Dalmatian puppies are born pure white, with their spots developing as the mature.

The ancient Chinese royalty loved the Pekingese, carrying them tucked into the sleeves of their royal robes.

Greyhounds are no doubt fast. In fact, they can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour for short amounts of time.

Many dogs’ eyes reflect the color green in the dark, but some also reflect orange or red.

Laikia, a dog, was the world’s first ever space astronaut. She was sent into space in an artificial earth satellite in 1957 by the Russian government.

Survivors of the Titanic included two dogs: a Pekingese belonging to Henry Sleeper Harper and a Pomeranian belonging to Miss Margaret Hays.

The oldest known breed of dog is the Saluki, which is an Arabic word meaning noble one. These dogs were raised as hunting dogs by ancient Egyptians.

The oldest breed of dog native to North America is the Chihuahua.

Every minute, dogs take ten to thirty breaths.

The only mammals with prostates are humans and dogs.

There are 42 teeth in a dog’s mouth.

One of the very first animals domesticated by humans was the dog.

The oldest known dog lived to be 29.

The “spring” in Springer Spaniel referred to this dog’s ability to spring or startle game.

In Flemish, Schipperke translates to “Little Captain.”

The Lhasa Apso was used by monks to guard temples.

[MysteRy]

Tortoise




Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. They evolved before mammals, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even lizards.

The earliest turtles had teeth and could not retract their heads, but other than this, modern turtles are very similar to their original ancestors.

Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica.

Turtles will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle.

While most turtles do not tolerate the cold well, the Blanding’s turtle has been observed swimming under the ice in the Great Lakes region.

Turtles range in size from the 4-inch Bog Turtle to the 1500-pound Leathery Turtle.

North America contains a large variety of turtle species, but Europe contains only two species of turtle and three species of tortoise.

The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together.

Most land tortoises have high, domed carapaces that offer protection from the snapping jaws of terrestrial predators.

Most turtle species have five toes on each limb with a few exceptions including the American Box Turtle of the Carolina species that only has four toes and, in some cases, only three.

Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell. Hearing and sense of touch are both good and even the shell contains nerve endings.

Some aquatic turtles can absorb oxygen through the skin on their neck and cloacal areas allowing them to remain submerged underwater for extended periods of time and enabling them to hibernate underwater.

Turtles are one of the oldest and most primitive groups of reptiles and have outlived many other species. One can only wonder if their unique shell is responsible for their longevity.

[MysteRy]

Crows




As members of the corvid family, crows are considered to be among the most adaptable and intelligent birds in the world.

Crows are generally black, with black beaks and legs, but they can also be black with white, gray, or brown coloring.

Crows have a varied and evolved language. They can mimic the sounds made by other animals, and they learn to associate noises with events, especially with the distribution of food.

Well-adapted to diverse habitats, crows are found across North America. They thrive in cities and suburban areas where they live in close association with humans.

Crows roost at night in large flocks of up to several thousand during the winter. During the day, smaller groups may fly up to fifty miles in pursuit of food.

Crows are omnivorous. They eat whatever is available to them in their habitat including insects, small amphibians and snakes, earthworms, eggs and nestling birds, and clams, mussels, and other salt-water invertebrates. They also scavenge carrion, garbage, and eat wild and cultivated fruit and vegetables.

With a preference for coniferous trees, crows build their nests in woods or isolated trees at least sixty feet above ground. Nests are solidly built of branches and twigs, and are lined with bark, plant fibers, mosses, twine, and other found materials.

Crows nests are bulky structures built in trees or bushes. They are made of twigs, lined with bark, grasses, and rootlets.

Paired male and female crows share in the incubation of four to six eggs which hatch in eighteen days. Young first fly when they are about one month old. Frequently, at least one young bird will remain with its parents through the next nesting season to assist in the care of new nestlings by bringing them food and guarding the nest.

The female crow lays 4-7 eggs in the nest, and the male helps incubate them. These eggs are greenish or bluish, and blotched with brown. Once hatched, the young remain in the nest 6 – 8 weeks, and in their early life they eat almost half of their weight per day in food, which the parents bring to them.

They are migratory, and will assemble in large flocks in the fall, to travel south.

They eat a number of pests which are harmful to those same crops, including cutworms, wireworms, grasshoppers and even noxious weeds.

[MysteRy]

Rat




Rats have poor vision. To compensate for this, a red or pink eyed rat will often weave its head side to side to add “motion” to see better. They also don’t see in color.

Rats normally prefer to have cage mates. It is possible to group female or male rats together, though care should be taken when introducing a new rat.

While it’s great to have both female and male rats, be wary of letting them play together; rats can complete the courting ritual and the whole romantic relationship in about two seconds.

Generally speaking, male rats make better “lap” pets, preferring to sit and have their ears scratched by an attentive human friend. Female rats are very curious, and love to explore and play games. Both genders make great companions.

Rats can eat chocolate.

Rats can also eat smaller pets. Rats are omnivores, and have enough predatory instinct left in them to consider birds, fish and even some smaller rodents as “snacks.”

Rats don’t have canine teeth.

Rats don’t have thumbs.

The oils in cedar and pine are toxic to rats, and should not be used in their bedding materials.

A rat’s temperature is regulated though its tail (assuming it has one). A really hot rat will lay on its back so that it can “sweat” through the soles of its feet.

Rats can’t vomit. A rat can, however, gag on something if it eats too quickly. The plus side of this is that rats can usually eat and drink before surgery.

It is unlikely you will ever catch rabies from a rat.

Soda does not make rats explode.
Rats bathe themselves, usually six times a day or more. A rat’s saliva has some pink pigmentation, which can cause a light-colored rat to look discolored. A warm washcloth with baby shampoo is great for those trouble spots.

PEW stands for “Pink Eyed White” the fancy rat terminology for “albino” or any all-white rat with pink eyes. Conversely, BEW stands for “Black Eyed White” (which is not an albino).

Rats have bellybuttons.

Rats don’t have gallbladders.

Rats don’t have tonsils.

A rat’s fur smells like grape soda.

[MysteRy]

The Cat




1. Tylenol and chocolate are both poisonous to cats.

2. The ancestor of all domestic cats is the African Wild Cat which still exists today.

3. In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.

4. In ancient Egypt, mummies were made of cats, and embalmed mice were placed with them in their tombs. In one ancient city, over 300,000 cat mummies were found.

5. In the Middle Ages, during the Festival of Saint John, cats were burned alive in town squares.

6. The first cat show was in 1871 at the Crystal Palace in London.

7. Today there are about 100 distinct breeds of the domestic cat.

8. Genetic mutation created the domestic cat which is tame from birth.

9. Like birds, cats have a homing ability that uses its biological clock, the angle of the sun, and the Earth’s magnetic field. A cat taken far from its home can return to it. But if a cat’s owners move far from its home, the cat can’t find them.

10. Hunting is not instinctive for cats. Kittens born to non-hunting mothers may never learn to hunt.

11. Cats bury their feces to cover their trails from predators.

12. Mother cats teach their kittens to use the litter box.

13. Among other tasks, cats can be taught to use a toilet, come, sit, beg, eat with their paws, heel, jump through a hoop, play a piano, play dead, roll over, open a door, hide food in boxes, shake, and fetch.

14. Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day. When cats are asleep, they are still alert to incoming stimuli. If you poke the tail of a sleeping cat, it will respond accordingly.

[MysteRy]

Penguins




Penguins are birds.

The name is derived from Welsh terms ‘pen’, meaning head and ‘gwyn’, meaning white.

Linux mascot tux is also a penguin.

Penguin chicks have fluffy feathers.

They are ancient species that appeared 40 million years ago in the Eocene.

Penguins don’t fly, they swim.

Penguins lay eggs.

A group of penguins is called colonies or rookery.

They usually move in huge groups.

Penguins use their wings for swimming.

Penguins open their feather to feel the cold.

Penguins hunt for fish, squid or shrimp like krill in the oceans to fill their stomach.

Most penguins can swim about 15 miles per hour.

Penguins have tightly packed feathers that help them to keep warm.

There are at least 18 different species of penguins.

There may be as many as 100 million penguins in the world.

Penguins can be endangered by oil spills, water pollution, and the global warming.

[MysteRy]

Bats




1. Bats are the only mammals able to fly

2. A single brown bat can catch around 1,200 mosquito-size insects in one hour

3. Vampire bats don’t sorry blood

4. Bats don’t have “fat days.” The metabolism of a bat is enviable

5. Fewer than 10 people in the last 50 years have contracted rabies from North American bats

6. Bats use echolocation to get around in the dark.

7. Bats make up a quarter of all mammals

8. More than 50 percent of bat species in the United States are either in severe decline or are listed as endangered

9. An anticoagulant found in vampire bat saliva may soon be used to treat human cardiac patients

10. Bats have only one pup a year

11. The average bat will probably outlive your pet dog

12. Bats wash behind their ears

[MysteRy]

Camel




1. The oldest known camel is Protylopus, appeared 40-50 million years ago in North America. It had the size of a rabbit and lived in forests. Later, camels spread to the savanna and increased their size. In Oligocene, 35 million years ago, Poebrotherium had the size of a roe deer, but already resembled a camel.

2. There are 17 million camels worldwide. 90 % are dromedaries or Arabian camels and 75 % of the dromedaries are found in North/East Africa. 50 % of the world’s dromaderies are found in Sudan and Somalia, in semidesert areas. 15-20,000 bewildered dromaderies roam western and central Australia.

3. Dromedary could have been domesticated in southwestern Arabia between 6,000 to 3,400 years ago, initially for their milk, while the larger and slower Bactrian camel in Northeastern Iran and southwestern Central Asia about 3,500 years ago. From Arabia, dromedaries entered Somalia, 3,500 years ago, and by 500 BC they reached the Atlantic coast.

4.Camels are gregarious and well adapted to their environment, the desert. They can carry heavy cargoes, stand sand storms and large temperature differences. Camels are called the “desert ships“, and they can swim when they encounter water. The north Egyptian Lake Borollos has a depth varying between 20 cm and 2 m. It cannot be crossed by boat or vehicles, and only camels can be used in this case.

5.The camels’ humps are reservoirs of fatty tissue. A full hump has 10-15 kg. When this fat is metabolized, it is not only a source of energy, but yields through reaction with oxygen from the air 1,111 g of water per 1,000 g of fat converted.

7. Camels walk 3 km per day looking for food, on average 3 hours, and disperse when food is scarce. They require 10-20 kg of fresh food daily, depending on the animal’s size. If working, the food requirement is of 30-50 kg per day. They spend 8-12 hours per day eating.

8. Camels mate all year round, but they have a favorable period when vegetation is lush. The male is extremely aggressive during mating period. During the arousal, he shows off his teeth, salivate abundantly, and the epidermic glands of the neck and shoulders are extremely active. He urinates frequently, and keeps the head and the fore limbs as raised as possible. Males possess an organ called dulla, like a pink bladder, normally harbored in the throat. During the rut period, the male throws the dulla out of his mouth in a display dominance. Dulla hangs like an inflated pink tongue and at the same time the male burbles, a disgusting sight to most humans.

9. Camels are gregarious. Free roaming camels form groups of 6-30 individuals, made of one male, several females with offspring. The rest of the males are solitary of form bachelor groups. There may be groups of females lacking males.

10. One of the worst habits of the camels is spitting. A distressed camel will spit a fetid stream coming from its first stomach chamber, especially when angry, frustrated or spooked, a real chemical bomb.

[MysteRy]

Rhinoceros




Rhinoceros, also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia.

The rhinoceros family is characterized by its large size (one of the largest remaining megafauna), with all of the species able to reach one tonne or more in weight; an herbivorous diet; a thick protective skin, 1.5–5 cm thick, formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure; relatively small brains for mammals this size (400–600 g); and a large horn.

They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter, if necessary. Unlike other perissodactyls, the African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths, relying instead on their powerful premolar and molar teeth to grind up plant food.

Rhinoceros are killed by humans for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and which are used by some cultures for ornamental or (pseudo-scientific) medicinal purposes. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran Rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan Rhinoceros have a single horn.

The IUCN Red List identifies three of the species as critically endangered.

The five living species of rhinoceros:
- White Rhinoceros
- Black Rhinoceros
- Indian Rhinoceros
- Javan Rhinoceros
- Sumatran Rhinoceros

[MysteRy]

Bengal Tiger




The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN. The total population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals with a decreasing trend, and none of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within the Bengal tiger’s range is large enough to support an effective population size of 250 adult individuals.

The Bengal tiger is the most numerous tiger subspecies with populations estimated at 1,411 in India, 200 in Bangladesh, 155 in Nepal and 67–81 in Bhutan.

Bengal is traditionally fixed as the typical locality for the binomial Panthera tigris, to which the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the Bengal tiger in 1929 under the trinomial Panthera tigris tigris.

Characteristics
The Bengal tiger’s coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black; the belly is white, and the tail is white with black rings.

The white tiger is a recessive mutant of the Bengal tiger, which was reported in the wild from time to time in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and especially from the former State of Rewa. There is only one fully authenticated case of a true albino tiger, and none of black tigers, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846.

Ecology and behaviour
Tigers do not live in prides as lions do. They do not live as family units because the male plays no part in raising his offspring. Tigers mark their territory by spraying urine on a branch or leaves or bark of a tree, which leaves a particular scent behind. Tigers also spray urine to attract the opposite sex. When an outside individual comes into contact with the scent, it learns that the territory is occupied by another tiger. Hence, every tiger lives independently in its own territory.

Hunting and diet
Tigers are obligate carnivores. They prefer hunting large ungulates such as chital, sambar, gaur, and to a lesser extent also barasingha, water buffalo, nilgai, serow and takin. Among the medium-sized prey species they frequently kill wild boar, and occasionally hog deer, muntjac and Gray langur. Small prey species such as porcupines, hares and peafowl form a very small part in their diet. Due to the encroachment of humans onto their habitat, they also prey on domestic livestock.

[MysteRy]

Panda




The giant panda, or panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally meaning “black and white cat-foot”) is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body.

Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda’s diet is 99% bamboo. Pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared feed.

The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Due to farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. A 2007 report shows 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000. Some reports also show that the number of pandas in the wild is on the rise. However, the IUCN does not believe there is enough certainty yet to reclassify the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.

While the dragon has historically served as China’s national emblem, in recent decades the panda has also served as an emblem for the country. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, and platinum coins. Though the panda is often assumed to be docile, it has been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than predation.