Seed predation is restricted to mammals, birds, and insects but is found in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Paramecium, a predatory ciliate, feeding on bacteria Among invertebrates, social wasps (yellowjackets) are both hunters and scavengers of other insects. Scavengers, organisms that only eat organisms found already dead, are not predators, but many predators such as the jackal and the hyena scavenge when the opportunity arises. When animals eat seeds ( seed predation or granivory) or eggs ( egg predation), they are consuming entire living organisms, which by definition makes them predators. Animals that graze on phytoplankton or mats of microbes are predators, as they consume and kill their food organisms but herbivores that browse leaves are not, as their food plants usually survive the assault. However, since they typically do not kill their hosts, they are now often thought of as parasites. Micropredators are small animals that, like predators, feed entirely on other organisms they include fleas and mosquitoes that consume blood from living animals, and aphids that consume sap from living plants. There are other difficult and borderline cases. Relation of predation to other feeding strategies Predation has been a major driver of evolution since at least the Cambrian period. Sometimes predator and prey find themselves in an evolutionary arms race, a cycle of adaptations and counter-adaptations. Predation has a powerful selective effect on prey, and the prey develop antipredator adaptations such as warning coloration, alarm calls and other signals, camouflage, mimicry of well-defended species, and defensive spines and chemicals. Other adaptations include stealth and aggressive mimicry that improve hunting efficiency. Many predatory animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, have sharp claws or jaws to grip, kill, and cut up their prey. Predators are adapted and often highly specialized for hunting, with acute senses such as vision, hearing, or smell. If the attack is successful, the predator kills the prey, removes any inedible parts like the shell or spines, and eats it. This may involve ambush or pursuit predation, sometimes after stalking the prey. When prey is detected, the predator assesses whether to attack it. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often concealed. It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. Social predators: meat ants cooperate to feed on a cicada far larger than themselves.
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