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Why may hungry predators accept food that they reject when food is abundant?
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Feeding behaviour
Wild horses graze in the Badlands of North Dakota.
Hungry predators may accept food they would otherwise reject during times of abundance due to changes in their internal state and their assessment of the broader environment. According to optimal foraging theory, animals aim to maximize their net rate of energy intake, and their feeding decisions are influenced by two primary factors: their current level of hunger and their experience regarding the general availability of food.1
Specifically, the following dynamics drive this behavior:
- Lowered Palatability Requirements: As a predator becomes hungrier, its threshold for what it considers acceptable food decreases. It may accept prey of slight palatability that it would typically ignore when more desirable options are available.1
- Environmental Assessment: Predators often "know" or assess the likelihood of finding better food through continued searching. If a predator expects that further searching will likely yield higher-quality prey, it may reject a low-value item. However, if it determines that nothing better is available, it will accept the less desirable food to avoid the risk of starvation.1
Consequently, animals tend to concentrate on food sources they would scorn during times of plenty when they face scarcity.1