"Freshwater killer whales": beaching behavior of an alien fish to hunt land birds.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23227213.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0050840 and PMC identifier 3515492.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The behavioral strategies developed by predators to capture and kill their prey are fascinating, notably for predators that forage for prey at, or beyond, the boundaries of their ecosystem. We report here the occurrence of a beaching behavior used by an alien and large-bodied freshwater predatory fish (Silurus glanis) to capture birds on land (i.e. pigeons, Columbia livia). Among a total of 45 beaching behaviors observed and filmed, 28% were successful in bird capture. Stable isotope analyses (δ(13)C and δ(15)N) of predators and their putative prey revealed a highly variable dietary contribution of land birds among individuals. Since this extreme behavior has not been reported in the native range of the species, our results suggest that some individuals in introduced predator populations may adapt their behavior to forage on novel prey in new environments, leading to behavioral and trophic specialization to actively cross the water-land interface.
Medical subject headings
- Behavior, Animal
- Birds
- Catfishes
- Fresh Water
- Introduced Species
- Predatory Behavior
- Whale, Killer