predation (redirected from prey)

predation

Form of food getting in which one animal, the predator, eats an animal of another species, the prey, immediately after killing it or, in some cases, while it is still alive. Most predators are generalists; they eat a variety of prey species. Specialist predators, such as anteaters, eat only one or a few prey species. Cannibalism is a type of predation in which an animal eats another of its own species. Seed consumption is also considered predation because the entire living embryo of a plant is destroyed.