Editing Predation (section)

===Physical adaptations===

Under the pressure of [[natural selection]], predators have evolved a variety of physical [[adaptation]]s for detecting, catching, killing, and digesting prey. These include speed, agility, stealth, sharp senses, claws, teeth, filters, and suitable digestive systems.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bar-Yam |title=Predator-Prey Relationships |url=http://necsi.edu/projects/evolution/co-evolution/pred-prey/co-evolution_predator.html |publisher=New England Complex Systems Institute |access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref>

For [[Prey detection|detecting prey]], predators have well-developed [[eye|vision]], [[olfaction|smell]], or [[hearing]].<ref name=Stevens2010/> Predators as diverse as [[owl]]s and [[jumping spider]]s have forward-facing eyes, providing accurate [[binocular vision]] over a relatively narrow field of view, whereas prey animals often have less acute all-round vision. Animals such as foxes can smell their prey even when it is concealed under {{convert|2|ft|cm|-1}} of snow or earth. Many predators have acute hearing, and some such as [[animal echolocation|echolocating]] [[bat]]s hunt exclusively by active or passive use of sound.<ref name="RSM2012">{{cite web |title=Predator & Prey: Adaptations |url= https://royalsaskmuseum.ca/pub/Lesson%20Plans/Resources/Predator%20and%20Prey%20Adaptations.pdf |publisher= Royal Saskatchewan Museum |access-date= 19 April 2018 |date= 2012 |archive-date= 3 April 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180403131659/http://royalsaskmuseum.ca/pub/Lesson%20Plans/Resources/Predator%20and%20Prey%20Adaptations.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Predators including [[big cat]]s, [[bird of prey|birds of prey]], and ants share powerful jaws, sharp teeth, or claws which they use to seize and kill their prey. Some predators such as [[snake]]s and fish-eating birds like [[herons]] and [[cormorants]] swallow their prey whole; some snakes can unhinge their jaws to allow them to swallow large prey, while fish-eating birds have long spear-like beaks that they use to stab and grip fast-moving and slippery prey.<ref name="RSM2012"/> Fish and other predators have developed the ability to crush or open the armoured shells of molluscs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vermeij |first=Geerat J. |title=Evolution and Escalation: An Ecological History of Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3pCQ6ks5PEC&pg=PR11 |year=1993 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-00080-0 |pages=11 and passim}}</ref>

Many predators are powerfully built and can catch and kill animals larger than themselves; this applies as much to small predators such as [[ant]]s and [[shrew]]s as to big and visibly muscular carnivores like the [[cougar]] and [[lion]].<ref name="RSM2012"/><ref name=LaffertyKuris2002>{{cite journal |last1=Lafferty |first1=K. D. |last2=Kuris |first2=A. M. |date=2002 |title=Trophic strategies, animal diversity and body size |journal=Trends Ecol. Evol. |volume=17 |issue=11 |pages=507–513 |doi=10.1016/s0169-5347(02)02615-0}}</ref><ref name=Getz2011>{{cite journal |last=Getz |first=W. M. |title=Biomass transformation webs provide a unified approach to consumer-resource modelling |journal=Ecology Letters |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=113–24 |year=2011 |pmid=21199247 |pmc=3032891 |doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01566.x |bibcode=2011EcolL..14..113G }}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Ursus arctos 01 MWNH 145 (cropped).JPG|Skull of [[brown bear]] has large pointed [[canine tooth|canines]] for killing prey, and self-sharpening [[carnassial]] teeth at rear for cutting flesh with a scissor-like action
File:Myrmecia pilosula specimen mandibles.jpg|Large [[compound eye]]s, sensitive [[antenna (biology)|antennae]], and powerful jaws ([[mandible (insect)|mandibles]]) of [[Myrmecia pilosula|jack jumper ant]]
File:Crab spider seizes field digger wasp.jpg|[[Crab spider]], an [[ambush predator]] with forward-facing eyes, catching another predator, a [[Mellinus arvensis|field digger wasp]]
File:Hawk eating prey (cropped).jpg|[[Red-tailed hawk]] uses sharp hooked claws and beak to kill and tear up its prey
File:GreatBlueHeronTampaFL.JPG|Specialist: a [[great blue heron]] with a speared fish
File:MNP Python at Moyer.jpg|[[Python molurus|Indian python]] unhinges its jaw to swallow large prey like this [[chital]]
</gallery>