Strike Fast, Strike Hard: The Red-Throated Caracara Exploits Absconding Behavior of Social Wasps during Nest Predation

Strike Fast, Strike Hard: The Red-Throated Caracara Exploits Absconding Behavior of Social Wasps during Nest Predation

Red-throated Caracaras Ibycter americanus (Falconidae) are specialist predators of social wasps in the Neotropics. It had been proposed that these caracaras possess chemical repellents that allow them to take the brood of wasp nests without being attacked by worker wasps. To determine how caracaras exploit nests of social wasps and whether chemical repellents facilitate predation, we: (1) video...

Post-Strike Behavior of Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) During Natural Predation Events

Laboratory studies are invaluable in the field of animal behavior because they offer experimenters the ability to conduct manipulations that cannot be easily accomplished in the field. However, laboratory experiments can be limited in their relevance to natural history and evolution. Numerous examples exist of field studies that fail to validate results that are robust in laboratory (Mappes et ...

To strike or not to strike.

The fast and forceful kicking strike of the secretary bird

The study of animal locomotion has uncovered principles that can be applied to bio-inspired robotics, prosthetics and rehabilitation medicine, while also providing insight into musculoskeletal form and function [1-4]. In particular, study of extreme behaviors can reveal mechanical constraints and trade-offs that have influenced evolution of limb form and function [1,2]. Secretary birds (Sagitta...

Social wasps are a Saccharomyces mating nest.

The reproductive ecology of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is still largely unknown. Recent evidence of interspecific hybridization, high levels of strain heterozygosity, and prion transmission suggest that outbreeding occurs frequently in yeasts. Nevertheless, the place where yeasts mate and recombine in the wild has not been identified. We found that the intestine of social wasps hosts highly outbr...