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A predator is an animal or other organism that hunts and kills other organisms for food in an act called predation. Most predators are carnivores. Some predators are omnivores. The difference between a predator and a parasite is that for a predator killing the prey is necessary for consuming it, but for parasites it is not even desirable because a parasite lives on or in its host. Some might consider herbivores to be predators as well, but this is arguable as most herbivores only consume parts of their food species, leaving the remainder alive. However, where the "prey" consists of single-celled algae, the activities of the herbivorous grazer is generally of the same nature as that of a carnivore. As usual in ecology as most fields of study, there is seldom consensus on the distinctions; some ecologists prefer functional definitions like the one outlined above, others rather look at the ecological dynamics the relationships between the species create.
There may be hierarchies of predators; for example, though small birds prey on insects, they may in turn be prey for snakes, which may in turn be prey for hawks. A predator at the top of its food chain (that is, one that is preyed upon by no organism) is called an apex predator. Sometimes an apex predator may have a profound influence on the balance of organisms in a particular ecosystem; introduction or removal of this predator, or changes in its population, can have drastic cascading effects on the equilibrium of many other populations in the ecosystem. In this instance the organism may be described as a keystone predator.
The Volterra-Lotka equations describe a simple mathematical model of the interaction between predators and their prey.
Other uses
- The RQ-1 PredatorThe RQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which the U. Air Force describes as a "medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle system. The aircraft can carry, and use, two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. The aircraft has been in use since is an unmanned aerial vehicle employed by the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in military for reconnaissance.
- In CriminologySee crime fiction for a survey of the fictional treatment of crimes and their detection and criminals and their motives. Crime Lake is a lake between Ashton-under-Lyne and Failsworth in Greater Manchester in England. A crime is an act which violates a law a predator is used to describe a criminal, most commonly in the phrase sexual predator. The term "superpredator" has also been used to refer to a theorizedIn mathematics, a theory is a set of statements closed under logical implication. In mathematical logic, "theory" is the term for a set of well-formed formulae consisting of certain axioms and all theorems provable from said axioms. Godel's incompleteness individual, from an urbanUrban is in or having to do with cities, as distinct from rural areas. In terms of music, urban music and urban radio are synonymous with the terms rap or hip hop and Rhythm and blues, which typically originates in urban areas. In these contexts the term ghettoThe name ghetto refers to an area where people from a given ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. The word historically referred to restricted housing zon, who has developed an aversion to modern societyA society is a group of people that form a semi-closed (or semi-open) system, in which most interactions are with other individuals belonging to the group. More abstractly, a society is a network of relationships between entities. A society is an interdep.
- Predator is a 1987 science fiction movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and an alien species featured therein.
