Abstract
PIELOWSKI has shown that goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) select as prey pigeons (Columba livia) which differ in colour from most pigeons which are present in Polish forests1,2. Salt3 has shown how these and other experimental results fit rather well into the generalization that predators preferentially capture prey animals which are odd, or which differ in some way from most prey. As Pielowski noted, however, it is probably easier for a goshawk to fix its attention on the odd-appearing member of a flock, and it is possible that the goshawks were merely taking conspicuous individuals out of the flock. Selection for conspicuous prey has been amply verified by experimentation4–8. I have attempted to determine the parts played by oddity and Conspicuousness in prey selection.
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References
Pielowski, Z., Bull. Acad. Pol. Sci. Ser. Sci. Biol., 7, 401 (1959).
Pielowski, Z., Ekologia Polska (A), Tom IX, No. 11 (1961).
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MUELLER, H. Prey Selection: Oddity or Conspicuousness?. Nature 217, 92 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/217092a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/217092a0
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