Prey capture was studied in nine species of venomous snakes. Rodent-specializing
rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus, C. enyo, C. ruber, and C. viridis) usually delivered a …

Highlights•We examined the interaction of predator and prey behavioural types.•We found
that prey fitness depends on predator behavioural type and vice versa.•Models with …

In nature, animals are exposed to a wide range of threats and dangers with predators being
amongst the more prominent and intensely studied of these. The responses of prey to …

Foraging is a key aspect of a species' ecology and decisions made while foraging affect
fitness in many ways. Although much research has focused on snake foraging, only a …

Functional responses describe the predator feeding rate with increasing prey density
(Solomon, 1949) and are central to ecology, quantifying the energy transfer across trophic …

Behavioral responses of prey to their predators can critically alter community dynamics.
Whether or not a prey responds, clearly depends on the effectiveness of that response. The …

Several models suggest that animals perform a stable sequence of responses during
increasing threat from a potential predator. To test the comparative utility of such models, 45 …

The threat sensitivity hypothesis predicts that prey species assess and adjust their behavior
flexibly in accordance with the magnitude of the threat imposed by a predator. We tested this …

Predator–prey interactions play a substantial role in shaping spatial distributions of
organisms in biological communities. Recent theory has considered optimal habitat …

Prey mortality depends on the likelihood of encountering a predator and of being killed
following such an encounter. While the proactive responses of large herbivores to the risk of …