An Amazing First: Two Species Cooperate to Hunt

Yahoo ^ | Charles Q. Choi

[SmoothTalker]

"The giant moray eel is normally a lone hunter in the dark. Now scientists find these eels may at times hunt in the daytime in the Red Sea, and surprisingly cooperate with another predatory fish, the grouper, which is also normally a solitary predator."

""When I first saw a grouper shaking its head in the face of a moray, I thought two top predators were about to fight each other," Bshary said. "So I was very surprised when they swam off together side by side."

Bshary and his colleagues followed fish around by snorkeling. They found groupers often visited giant morays resting in their crevices and rapidly shook their heads an inch or so from the eels to recruit them in a joint hunt. At times this call took place after a grouper failed in its hunt because prey escaped into a crevice the grouper could not get into but a giant moray might.

If the moray emerged, the grouper guided the eel to a crevice where prey was hiding. Groupers sometimes even performed a headstand and shook its head over a prey hiding place to attract moray eels to the site. At times the moray ate the fish it rooted out, while at other times the grouper did. [Video]"

[SmoothTalker]

Interesting find

[kinoxi]

They adapt.

[conservative cat]

I'd believe it. Our greyhound pulled a turkey carcass out of the trash after Thanksgiving one year, and he and the cat shared it.

[kaehurowing]

Sort of like p.i. lawyers and "expert witnesses."

[aruanan]

An Amazing First: Two Species Cooperate to Hunt

Dogs and humans have been doing that for thousands of years.

[American in Israel]

Yeah, but dogs are smarter than fish.

[Jeff Chandler]

dogs are smarter than fish.

You have obviously never owned an Irish Setter.

[PAR35]

Yeah, but dogs are smarter than fish.

Some people are also smarter than fish.

[Ditter]

I am smart enough NOT to own an Irish Setter. They even look stupid.

[TigersEye]

Dogs and humans have been doing that for thousands of years.

lol Spoil sport.

[kipita]

This is the biggest fear of the West! We need to keep all lone hunters isolated.

[wolfpat]

Some people are also smarter than fish.

The rest vote democrat.

[Louis Foxwell]

Humans do not live as equals in a species rich environment. Those humans who prefer to acknowledge the intellectual, spiritual, and moral superiority of other species are an aberration. They are obviously an inferior morph.
Fish are uniquely interspecies socialized. Numerous species travel with shark packs to feed. Wrasses act as parasite cleaners at cleaning stations. Some fish (and birds) seek out surrogate parents for their broods.
There are countless examples of interspecies cooperation for casual and profound activity. If chickens and cattle were not so easily domesticated our food supply would be substantially more problematic. Even the lowly maize exists only to serve mankind. It has no known ancestry outside human cultivation.

[Jezebelle]

*SNORT* :>

[spetznaz]

There is a bird in Africa that also does something similar (I cannot recall its name right now). It finds a swarm of bees (meaning: honey), and then goes off to look for a Honey Badger. Once it finds one, it makes a particular call and the Honey Badger follows the bird to where the bees are, the Badger roots the hive to consume the honey, and the bird feeds off pieces of honey that have dropped.

If a Honey Badger is not readily available the bird will fly off and look for a human (some tribes will follow the bird since it usually means easy food). Once again the person will pull down the honey combs from the tree (we are talking about wild bees here), and usually leave a comb behind for the bird. (There are some reports of birds leading off people who did not give it anything to dangerous areas .....eg near a pride of lions).

[savedbygrace]

There are some reports of birds leading off people who did not give it anything to dangerous areas .....eg near a pride of lions).

"Bad bird."

[gusopol3]

that's right!

[SmoothTalker]

The article does have the caveat that humans are the exception to this.

[kaehurowing]

The analogy works on multiple levels.

For example, eels, groupers, lawyers and "experts" are all bottom feeders.

[American in Israel]

Some people are smarter than fish

Not many...