Giant Predator Hunting Tactics

I've thought that predators like nagas, dridders and the like used stealth, speed or trapping tactics when hunting. Some of Karbo's artwork backs up this hypothesis, as does the discussion on weapons. AK-47s and similar weapons will cause a giant predator pain as was discussed in this thread. It seems logical to assume that they would try to avoid such pain.

Of course, if they were hunting a lone human then it's likely that they wouldn't need to be so speedy. (Really though, a lone human in the jungle is a dead human).

Now, I'm talking about predators humans and species of similar size there. Those can be outrun by a predator. However we all know that humans, etc do not make up the main part of a giant predator's diet. Animals like duiker and glouteux do. These creatures are much faster than humans and some have far better senses. Predators would have to use stealth, speed and/or traps to catch them.

That's my viewpoint, I'm interested to hear other people's perception of how predators get their prey.


This thread was sparked by the comments here.

I showed Hilary likes to hunt like an emerald tree boa. She hides in the canopy, coils her tail around a branch, then lunges down mouth open when a prey is underneath her, then retreats back in the leaves. Off course, that's her Plan A. Her Plan B is to use her long tongue to catch a lone bite-sized prey, and if that fails, her Plan C is to vacuum bite-sized preys in her mouth.

So yeah, that's ambush tactics. It's along the lines of what I had imagined.

I'm assuming stealth/ambush would be commonplace. Simply hide yourself well, wait until prey has gotten close enough, or you instead creep closer, then simply spring and attack. With harpies there must be a lot of surprise, considering it would be better for them if prey was unaware the whole time. In social predators i could see them purposelly storming at herds as to isolate the more vulnerable individuals.

Alternatively, it might as well just be good ol' persistent hunting like humans do, just harass and pursue your prey until it gives out

I thought tactics and stealth was to give increase the chance of success and minimize the expense of energy and risk. Even that the hunt is still risky for the predators.

I speculate that insect-Like predators, for ex: Mantoids. If not alone, persay a pack of four, would utilize swarm tactics. Such as on a decent party of prey of five to seven come wandering around their territory. To Have more detail in the tactic I'll make up a scenario with the numbers of each side shown above, naming the Mantoids Alphabetically.

Mantoids set a small. square shape perimeter around their prey, The victims are still not aware that they've been set in a plan ambush thus the Mantoid group initiates their plan.

Mantoid A and B are pair partners. Maintoid A will attack first in an attempt to have a surprise initiative on the group and startle them to only work on focusing him/her. Seconds later mantis B will assist A in disorienting the party, Not actually killing them but irritating and confusing them to the point when there is two or more groups instead of one.g

Meanwhile in the background. Mantoid C is awaiting a signal from Mantoid A to come and assist the hunt with him her, so is B. D is the Surveyor in the whole arrangement. He/she will be spotting for unexpected conveniences or will assist swarm if the prey is too much of a hassle for the rest.

When A Gives her signal she will withdraw her harassment. Letting The long awaiting and Engagement ready C have her turn with the victims. B will immediately, stop his action and come join A and C for an all final convergence on their victims, By this time This particular group of victims will most likely become fatigued when B arrives and will succumb to Mental and physical distortion . If all goes well those 3 will have their meal of the day.

Mean while. D will switch with B in watching her group of prey she was Hindering before. Giving the victim's a moment of relief for a few brief minutes then attacking them herself. If her partners are up for it after their consumption, they will most likely help D and Finish the rest of the food off with an all out effort of the group.If they feel generous, they might let D have her fair share or more for the day. Then move and journey again to another good spot for a swarm tactic.

The one i just explain is one of many. It can differ in the the size of the swarm and what kind of prey it is dealing with. The tactic above IS NOT guerrilla. as the group above "pulsed." their attacks and switched out simultaneously while attacking from different degrees and individuals.

My naga, Kraj, targets larger felaryan animals, and so sneaks up on them from down wind and then uses a lightning-fast amubush to rip their throat out. Also, if animals are a pred's main diet, then why isn't there more of them bieing eaten in the manga? I know most people like watching humans get eaten but maybe some of it going on in the background would at least make it look more commonplace. So far the only animals that's been eaten was the "FS" (Someone please tell me how to do the spoiler box things!).

EdgedWeapon wrote:

My naga, Kraj, targets larger felaryan animals, and so sneaks up on them from down wind and then uses a lightning-fast amubush to rip their throat out. Also, if animals are a pred's main diet, then why isn't there more of them being eaten in the manga? I know most people like watching humans get eaten but maybe some of it going on in the background would at least make it look more commonplace.

Your partially answering your own question there.
The other part of the answer is that it's hard to incorporate it into the story (as far as I can see). Now with the next manga we might see it. Crisis eats more humans, nekos, etc than your average predator and since the focus has been mainly on her so far it's understandable that we haven't seen normal predator feeding habits. However with Fiona having a more prominent role we may see some normal hunting tactics and animal prey in the next tome. I hope.

Quote :

So far the only animals that's been eaten was the "FS" (Someone please tell me how to do the spoiler box things!).

Like this:

Code:

[spoiler]Text goes here[/spoiler]

That's the simplest spoiler.

You can also change the spoiler title:

Code:

[spoiler=Spoiler Title goes Here]Text goes here[/spoiler]

If S'ryne were to describe my giant predator characters, she would most likely dub it down as follows: Reya is a trapper, Kaede and Liari are deceivers/manipulators, and Cecaeda is a chaser (ambush/stealth and when that fails run 'em down).

Now that a dridder has been mentioned, Delilah hunts like most Bolas Dridders by hiding in the canopy and just fish preys with a line of sticky silk. However, since Delilah is pretty smart, she instead employ nets to potentially catch more preys in one go and minimize the chance of missing lone targets. It also allows her to bind big beasts faster so she can run away.

This thread is not for discussion on how specific characters hunt, it's about how giant predators in general hunt, how they deal with well armed group and what happens if the prey fights back.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

This thread is not for discussion on how specific characters hunt, it's about how giant predators in general hunt, how they deal with well armed group and what happens if the prey fights back.

Wow, Junkie. Point me, and I shall cleave a path for us to walk together!

I'm still missing some information relative to what they can do, but you know, I've been thinking about that.

Since everyone insists rifles hurt (which i wouldn't agree too much on, it takes a lot of the difficulty out), I suppose that if it finds you, and you fight back hard, the predator retreats- once. Then it comes back with a plan.

If most of your ammo is vehicle-mounted, then tossing something at the vehicle will make do. I can't really see most predators using a stick or rock, though, so I guess it'll be just a quick stomp or crush. A single swoop should take care of a loose formation, even if it's with an arm, and if even that seems like too dangerous, that's what vines are for.

I need to think more about this... tool use doesn't seem like the preds' shtick. It's not sexy. I need to see just how much to justify by rule of sexy and all that.

Exactly, Stabs. In my own thoughts, I see predators as only bothering with stealth if A) there is well-armed, organized prey, B) the pred in question is less than 25-30 feet tall, and/or C) that's just their style.

The general run of big folks probably hunt stealthily because that's how they hunted when they were smaller and they're comfortable with it. Plus, following someone unawares and jumping on them is hilarious. But if the pred doesn't feel like hiding, like as not they'll just run you down.

Dridders would have a large variety of hunting methods, from setting up silk laden traps, to utilizing trap doors for ambushes, and even jumping down on prey from the treetops, since most dridders are rather nimble.

I don't really know if nagas have their own specialized hunting skills. It really depends on the individual. They can be smart enough to make clever traps, or they might just run their prey down and get them tired.

Harpies I think would have the hardest time hunting, since, if I'm not mistaken, they don't hunt so well in forests. They work best tracking their prey from the air, then swooping down for a quick strike. I definitely need to check my sources on that though.

MrNobody13 wrote:

A) there is well-armed, organized prey

But how would they know? A rocket luncher is just a coloured tube with a funny thing on the end to them. There are many types, they might learn to recognise one type but they're not going to know what it is really. I'd say predators don't know too much about human weapons. (There are exceptions, obviously).
They're not going to take chances about that kind of pain once they've experienced it a few times.

MrNobody13 wrote:

The general run of big folks probably hunt stealthily because that's how they hunted when they were smaller and they're comfortable with it. Plus, following someone unawares and jumping on them is hilarious.

True

MrNobody13 wrote:

But if the pred doesn't feel like hiding, like as not they'll just run you down.

This I highly doubt. An obvious tactic for a group of humans is to scatter, then surround a pred if they have weapons. That means the predator is expending far, far more energy to catch them all then they otherwise would. There is no reason for a predator to try to do this.

This doesn't apply to lone humans, but if you're along in the Felaryan jungle; What the hell are you doing and how are you still alive?

You do have a point there. Most likely a pred won't chase people down unless they've got no other choice, or if they like doing so for some reason (personal hunting preference or such).

As for weapons, I imagine a pred might be able to tell if it's a weapon by how it is handled (ie Handled carefully, pointed at danger, things like that). But you're very probably right that they generally wouldn't be able to tell unless they felt it or had previous experience. So, yes they probably wouldn't try to just walk up unless it was one or two people, or the pred had some kind of defense against such things.

I would guess most preds hunt by stealth, with variation by species and personality, skills, ect.

Quote :

You do have a point there. Most likely a pred won't chase people down unless they've got no other choice, or if they like doing so for some reason (personal hunting preference or such).

Crisis says hi.

MrNobody13 wrote:

You do have a point there. Most likely a pred won't chase people down unless they've got no other choice, or if they like doing so for some reason (personal hunting preference or such).

As for weapons, I imagine a pred might be able to tell if it's a weapon by how it is handled (ie Handled carefully, pointed at danger, things like that). But you're very probably right that they generally wouldn't be able to tell unless they felt it or had previous experience. So, yes they probably wouldn't try to just walk up unless it was one or two people, or the pred had some kind of defense against such things.

I would guess most preds hunt by stealth, with variation by species and personality, skills, ect.

Agreed. Centaurs are going to chase people down and quickly snatch a few as they pass by. That's because they are very fast and live on open plains.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

MrNobody13 wrote:

You do have a point there. Most likely a pred won't chase people down unless they've got no other choice, or if they like doing so for some reason (personal hunting preference or such).

As for weapons, I imagine a pred might be able to tell if it's a weapon by how it is handled (ie Handled carefully, pointed at danger, things like that). But you're very probably right that they generally wouldn't be able to tell unless they felt it or had previous experience. So, yes they probably wouldn't try to just walk up unless it was one or two people, or the pred had some kind of defense against such things.

I would guess most preds hunt by stealth, with variation by species and personality, skills, ect.

Agreed. Centaurs are going to chase people down and quickly snatch a few as they pass by. That's because they are very fast and live on open plains.

Felarya's a jungle, centaurs are also often in jungles for some reason, which doesn't make any sense since horses live in the plains like you said. It's kind of a weird discrepancy.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Anime-Junkie wrote:

MrNobody13 wrote:

You do have a point there. Most likely a pred won't chase people down unless they've got no other choice, or if they like doing so for some reason (personal hunting preference or such).

As for weapons, I imagine a pred might be able to tell if it's a weapon by how it is handled (ie Handled carefully, pointed at danger, things like that). But you're very probably right that they generally wouldn't be able to tell unless they felt it or had previous experience. So, yes they probably wouldn't try to just walk up unless it was one or two people, or the pred had some kind of defense against such things.

I would guess most preds hunt by stealth, with variation by species and personality, skills, ect.

Agreed. Centaurs are going to chase people down and quickly snatch a few as they pass by. That's because they are very fast and live on open plains.

Felarya's a jungle, centaurs are also often in jungles for some reason, which doesn't make any sense since horses live in the plains like you said. It's kind of a weird discrepancy.

I'm guessing that seeing one in a felaryan jungle is rare. so they might lobe in the forest areas up north where you might find them most relevant.

They are rare in the jungle, but you're more likely to find them around the Great Rocky Field.

It's an interesting thread ^^

I think it really varies a lot not only among different races but also individuals. For example I can imagine some nagas hunting only through ambush tactics, while Crisis is more varied. She enjoys sneaking on her prey but also hunting them on the open. It depends on both the situation and her mood.