Skip to main content
Dryad

Aerial attack strategies of hawks hunting bats, and the adaptive benefits of swarming

Cite this dataset

Brighton, Caroline (2020). Aerial attack strategies of hawks hunting bats, and the adaptive benefits of swarming [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k98sf7m51

Abstract

Aggregation can reduce an individual’s predation risk, by decreasing predator hunting efficiency or displacing predation onto others. Here we explore how the behaviors of predator and prey influence catch success and predation risk in Swainson’s hawks Buteo swainsoni attacking swarming Brazilian free-tailed bats Tadarida brasiliensis on emergence. Lone bats including stragglers have a high relative risk of predation, representing ~5% of the catch but ~0.2% of the population. Attacks on the column were no less successful than attacks on lone bats, so hunting efficiency is not decreased by group vigilance or confusion. Instead, lone bats were attacked disproportionately often, representing ~10% of all attacks. Swarming therefore displaces the burden of predation onto bats outside the column – whether as isolated wanderers not benefitting from dilution through attack abatement, or as peripheral stragglers suffering marginal predation and possible selfish herd effects. In contrast, the hawks’ catch success depended only on the attack maneuvers that they employed, with the odds of success being more than trebled in attacks involving a high-speed stoop or rolling grab. Most attacks involved one of these two maneuvers, which therefore represent alternative rather than complementary tactics. Hence, whereas a bat’s survival depends on maintaining column formation, a hawk’s success does not depend on attacking lone bats – even though their tendency to do so is sufficient to explain the adaptive benefits of their prey’s aggregation behavior. A hawk’s success instead depends on the flight maneuvers it deploys, including the high-speed stoop that is characteristic of many raptors.

Funding

European Research Council, Award: 682501

Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Award: N000141612478

Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Award: N000141612478