Since a gazelle can run faster than a lion, how do lions ever catch gazelles? A new model of predator-prey interaction shows how groups of predators use collective chasing strategies, such as cornering and circling, to pursue and capture faster prey. Without this tactical collaboration, the predators would have no chance of catching these prey.
The results are not only relevant for understanding wildlife, but also have potential applications for drone-flying strategies and in the entertainment industry.
The researchers, Milán Janosov, Csaba Virágh, Gábor Vásárhelyi, and Tamás Vicsek at the MTA-ELTE Statistical and Biological Physics Research Group, Hungary, have published their paper on their new model of collective chasing strategies in a recent issue of the New Journal of Physics.
"After many previous efforts, we managed to give a simple, yet surprisingly life-like explanation of how predator animals can form successful hunting packs, and by that drastically enhance their chances of being successful on a hunt," Janosov told Phys.org. "This is particularly interesting because we managed to model these exceptionally complex systems—the hunting groups of large carnivores—in a simulation resembling realistic features of animal pursuits, such as encircling, optimal group size, and finite space, only by using a set of compact rules formulated as force-like interactions in physics."
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-predators-faster-prey-drone-tactics.html#jCp
Since a gazelle can run faster than a lion, how do lions ever catch gazelles? A new model of predator-prey interaction shows how groups of predators use collective chasing strategies, such as cornering and circling, to pursue and capture faster prey. Without this tactical collaboration, the predators would have no chance of catching these prey.
The results are not only relevant for understanding wildlife, but also have potential applications for drone-flying strategies and in the entertainment industry.
The researchers, Milán Janosov, Csaba Virágh, Gábor Vásárhelyi, and Tamás Vicsek at the MTA-ELTE Statistical and Biological Physics Research Group, Hungary, have published their paper on their new model of collective chasing strategies in a recent issue of the New Journal of Physics.
"After many previous efforts, we managed to give a simple, yetsurprisingly life-like explanation of how predator animals can form successful hunting packs, and by that drastically enhance their chances of being successful on a hunt," Janosov told Phys.org. "This is particularly interesting because we managed to model these exceptionally complex systems—the hunting groups of large carnivores—in a simulation resembling realistic features of animal pursuits, such as encircling, optimal group size, and finite space, only by using a set of compact rules formulated as force-like interactions in physics."