Hace 7 años | Por Ripio a eurekalert.org
Publicado hace 7 años por Ripio a eurekalert.org

Las serpientes, aunque tan sociales como las aves y los mamíferos, se ha pensado durante mucho tiempo que eran cazadores solitarios. Un nuevo estudio de la Universidad de Tennessee, Knoxville, muestra que algunas serpientes coordinan sus cacerías para aumentar sus posibilidades de éxito.

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Ese estudio es descriptivo, me he leído el artículo y parece un reportaje de Rodríguez de la Fuente. El autor se dedica a la zoología y a hacer guías de viaje, pertenece al departamento de psicología y es uno de los editores de la revista en la que publica. Eso no es criticable, pero el artículo es muy flojo.

Le recomiendo este otro: http://ioppublishing.org/news/physics-modelling-explains-how-hunters-team-up-to-catch-faster-prey/

Physics modelling explains how hunters team up to catch faster prey

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/aa69e7

Lead author Milán Janosov said: “Group hunting is one of the most important forms of collective behaviour, and stems from the fact that co-operation among predators can dramatically enhance their chances of catching difficult prey.

“It is even beneficial when not all members of the group take part. Indeed, evolution appears to have optimised the size of hunting packs to somewhere between three and 10.”

“Our model showed that when the prey is faster, multiple hunters can only bring it down when there is strong tactical interaction between them. We found that an optimal group of chasers, which can catch a faster prey, exists in both two and three dimensions when there is a soft, repulsive interaction force between them. This would be impossible without the interaction between the chasers. The optimal group size found here is also comparable to the ones observed in nature when using realistic model parameters.

“With certain parameters the chasers can encircle their prey. These patterns emerge right from the implemented chasing rules, and reflect what happens in the real world.”

The researchers also found that chasers’ effectiveness increased if they were using prediction to forecast their prey’s position; that large delays can completely stop the chasers’ success, but could be overcome with a long enough prediction time; faster prey using a zigzag pattern stood a better chance of escape, especially when there was delay.

Moverse en zigzag es una buena estrategia. Si un animal o un vehículo es estable, resiste los cambios de dirección. Pero si es inestable, cuenta con la capacidad para cambiar rápidamente de dirección.

Me parece muy interesante. Si lo envía se lo voto, como ya he hecho con otras de sus noticias.