Psychology Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Animals · Animal ethology · Comparative psychology · Animal models · Outline · Index


Cooperative hunting occurs where a pair or group of animals coordinate their activites as part of their hunting behavior in order to improve their chances of making a kill and feeding. This type of cooperation] is found in many species.


Mammals

Birds

Fish

File:Lysmata amboinensis cleans mouth of a Moray eel.jpg|thumb|A Pacific cleaner shrimp cleans the mouth of a moray eel.|alt=Photo of eel with shrimp in its mouth]]

File:Ribbon eel.jpg

Ribbon moray,
Rhinomuraena quaesita

Reef-associated roving coralgroupers (Plectropomus pessuliferus) have been observed to recruit moray eels to join them in hunting for food. The invitation to hunt is initiated by head-shaking. The rationale for this joining of forces is the ability of morays to enter narrow crevices and flush prey from niches not accessible to groupers. This is the only known instance of interspecies cooperative hunting among fish. Cooperation on other levels, such as at cleaning stations, is well-known.[1][2]

File:Gymnothorax fimbriatus.JPG

Fimbriated moray,
Gymnothorax fimbriatus

See also

Social learning in animals


References

  1. In the December 2006 issue of the journal Public Library of Science Biology, a team of biologists announced the discovery of interspecies cooperative hunting involving morays. The biologists, who were engaged in a study of Red Sea cleaner fish (fish that enter the mouths of other fish to rid them of parasites), made the discovery.An Amazing First: Two Species Cooperate to Hunt | LiveScience
  2. Bshary R, Hohner A, Ait-el-Djoudi K, Fricke H (December 2006). Interspecific communicative and coordinated hunting between groupers and giant moray eels in the Red Sea. PLoS Biol. 4 (12): e431.
Advertisement