#kleptoparasitism — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/ie/704950/ Dolphin nicknamed Bubbles bullies fish into puking up food — then he eats the barf #Bubbles #dolphin #echolocation #EcologyAndEvolution #Éire #GreatBarrierReef #IE #Ireland #Kleptoparasitism #LadyElliotIsland #Science #Trevally

Wilson Rankin et al. report the first quantification of nest material kleptoparasitism in a group of native Hawaiian birds of ecological and conservation interest and find strong support for the height overlap hypothesis.

Available now ahead of print!
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/740144

#Kleptoparasitism #HeightOverlapHypothesis #EEB

Prey Size Affects Dynamics Between Cougars And Wolves In Yellowstone

How do two apex predators, cougars and wolves, compete and coexist?

#SciComm by @GrrlScientist

#ApexPredator #Cougars #Wolves #Kleptoparasitism #behavior #YellowstoneNP #ecology #conservation https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2026/01/31/prey-size-affects-dynamics-between-cougars-and-wolves-in-yellowstone/

Prey Size Affects Dynamics Between Cougars And Wolves In Yellowstone

How do two apex predators, cougars and wolves, compete and coexist?

#SciComm by @grrlscientist

#ApexPredator #Cougars #Wolves #Kleptoparasitism #behavior #YellowstoneNP #ecology #conservation https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2026/01/31/prey-size-affects-dynamics-between-cougars-and-wolves-in-yellowstone/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@sflorg/115967607765332592

A very impressive #scientific paper by W. Binder et al. (2026) shows that #cougars and #wolves in #Yellowstone National Park #influence each other's life #strategies. It's about #apex- apex #carnivore dynamics and #kleptoparasitism. The risk of wolves stealing pumas' prey has led pumas to #specialize in #smallanimals that can be caught quickly, thus reducing the likelihood of encountering wolves.
© text #StefanFWirth Berlin 2026

Reference
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2511397123

Nine years of data on cougar and wolf populations in Yellowstone National Park indicates that cougars are shifting their diet to minimize the theft of their kills by wolf packs. Cougars have shifted to smaller prey that can be consumed more quickly, before the carcasses can be stolen by wolves.

Summary: https://www.discovermagazine.com/cougars-are-learning-to-coexist-with-wolves-in-yellowstone-by-changing-their-diet-48593

Original paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2511397123

#Science #Ecology #Nature #Competition #Kleptoparasitism

Today in the park, I noticed a lot of small flies around this one unhealthy-looking plant, a mint of some kind, that had been put outside the greenhouse. I looked closer to find…a flower crab spider (family Thomisidae, tribe Misumenini) feeding on a plant bug (family Miridae)! The small flies are kleptoparasites trying to get a bite of the spider's meal. It periodically flicked the flies away with its spare legs and moved around to get away from them, in vain.

I don't see flower crab spiders that often so this was a nice find.

#DailySpiderPic #spiders #flies #parasitism #kleptoparasitism #Araneae #Thomisidae #Diptera

How #Staphylococcus aureus 'steals' #iron from our #blood during infections.

#kleptophagy #kleptoparasitism #heme

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-staphylococcus-aureus-iron-blood-infections.html

#Orchid's #nutrient theft from f#ungi sheds light on #photosynthesis-#parasitism continuum.

#kleptophagy #kleptoparasitism #mycoheterotrophy #mycorrhizae

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-orchid-nutrient-theft-fungi-photosynthesis.html

People taking carcasses from large carnivores more widespread than previously reported
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0308068
#kleptoparasitism #lions #wildlife #conflict #hyenas #leopards #cheetahs

The joint #evolution of #animal #movement and #competition #strategies

#AmericanNaturalist

"Spatially explicit #forager - #kleptoparasite model where consumers can either forage or steal resource items from conspecifics (#kleptoparasitism). 3 scenarios: (1) foragers without kleptoparasites, (2) consumers specializing as foragers or as kleptoparasites and (3) consumers that can switch between foraging and kleptoparasitism depending on local conditions"

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/725394

#Foraging #animals often steal from each other. Here, Gupte et al. show in an eco-evolutionary model how such #kleptoparasitism affects #movementStrategy #evolution and resource-exploitation patterns!

Now available on the ahead of print page: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/725394

#Seagulls are disappearing
“Birdlife Australia data shows reports of silver gulls are decreasing across the country. We've built our cities around the coastal plains and estuaries where they would naturally be anyway, so they have adapted to us coming into their territory”.
'The scourge of the skies' are intelligent birds that have learned to benefit from human #rubbish.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-03/seagulls-declining-in-bird-counts-so-where-are-they/102398896
#Food #Waste #Beach #Birds #Habitat #Coastal #Sprawl #Kleptoparasitism