Subject: Re: Primal scream
Date: Dec 21 11:50:24 1995
From: Tom Foote - footet at elwha.evergreen.edu


On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:

>
> Some birds, and frogs and rabbits (and perhaps many more animals), emit
> ear-piercing shreiks when caught by predators. It has been hypothesized
> that a startled predator might release such an animal.

Dennis--

..perhaps, but Richard Nelson, Rick Bass and some of the writers
who write about the hunt, speculate that the animal's cry is a
signal to bring in other predators to finish the job more
expeditiously...(in the case of wolves in particular, since
Anthropologist Nelson lives in Alaska)

And, a rabbit shriek won't cause a hawk to let go..as any
falconer will tell you, prey squeals cause hawks to clamp down
more tightly..

Tom