Question

What is a prey?

Answer 1

Hint: It is a biological interaction which shows the dependency of one organism over another for food. A prey is an animal which is hunted by another animal for food. The animal who is stronger feeds over the weaker ones.

Complete Answer:
- Prey is an animal that is eaten by another animal which is called a predator. The animals that fall prey are generally weak animals which are eaten by the stronger ones.
- The predators actively search for the prey. They see the prey either by stalking or waiting for the time to attack. After the successful attack, the prey is killed. The spines, shell, skin are removed and the flesh of the animal is eaten.
- The predators use several mechanisms to catch its prey. Certain adaptations like warning colouration, signals, smell, mimicry or camouflage. Some have defensive spines and chemicals to attract their prey.

Examples of prey are: The herbivores (grass eating) fall into prey to carnivores (flesh eating).
Killing of prey by a predator is a foraging cycle. The predator looks for the prey based on geographical distribution. Once the prey is located, it is attacked and killed by force.
Many smaller organisms like protozoa feed on the small microorganism as food.

Additional Information: Some plants like insectivores which feed on insects like the Venus fly trap, pitcher plants use special kinds of adhesives to trap the prey. The prey once trapped will be killed and eaten by the plant.

Note: Smaller animals are eaten up by stronger animals. This cycle is called the food chain. It is very much important to maintain the balance of nature and control the population.