How do animals teach their young to hunt? Education in the world of animals

Regardless of who is a bear, a lion, a cheetah or a hamster in front of us, his mother has a very important function - she feeds, protects and teaches the cub to survive in full dangers to the environment. Considering how animals teach their young to hunt and what methods they use for this, one can understand the highest wisdom in the relationship between adult individuals and the younger generation. And let the relationship in the school or family of any animals seem to us sometimes cruel, behind them is often iron logic, which allows to survive a whole family.

How to learn to hunt mead

As the animals teach their young to hunt, we can first consider the case of very charismatic animals belonging to the family of mangostones and residing in southern Africa - the meerkats.

The production of these highly organized animals, always living in large families, is mainly large insects, chicks, snakes, and sometimes small rodents. And as soon as the juveniles of the meerkats grow so much that besides the mother's milk they need other food, adults take them for the first hunt.

True, at first the babies only observe what the elders do, and the prey is already killed. But in time they will be offered a live insect or rodent so that the teenager can play with him and practice in hunting skills. When the surakat becomes an adult, he earns his own food alone, along with the family, carefully combing the hunting ground.

Wolves are highly organized hunters

Wolves are very inventive and clever hunters. In order to better understand how animals are teaching their young to hunt, it is worthwhile to look closely at precisely these predators. Everyone knows that as a prey they choose weakened or sick animals, which are easier to catch during the chase. But not only does this help the forest orderlies during the hunt, they have plenty of ways to make it successful.

Wolves try to get close to the hoofed undetected as close as possible. And during the rut they use a lot of cunning tactics. For example, in the mountains, they drive deer to a precipice, from which they do not dare to jump. And the wolves in the forest send wolves to the snow covered with snow, where these heavy ungulates simply fall through, or to the ice-covered pond on which the elk's legs part.

The remarkable hunting talents of the wolf pack are also indicated by their tactics of luring the formidable shovel to one of the hunters, while others are getting to the young with impunity. And all of this they successfully pass on to the younger generation, which, by the way, is touched by the care of both the female and the male.

How wolves teach young to hunt

To teach the cubs to get their food, adults take them on a hunt, giving the cubs the opportunity to watch it. But before this, a lot of time must pass.

Under the age of one-year-old puppies (they are called profitable) in the family are the youngest. Usually there are about 5 per flock, and they are in full charge of adults. Playing among themselves under the supervision of the cubs, born last year (pewls), which remain in the family 1-2, they develop their agility and strength. And the wolf, who returned from the hunt, often brings them a smothered, but still alive mouse for training.

For the first time, the cubs are only hunting at the age of six months, where, in conditions of strict discipline and respect for the elders, they learn all the subtleties of tracking and attacking.

Features of education in cheetahs

And especially bright examples of how animals teach their young to hunt, you can see from cheetahs. The female of this strong representative of the cat family brings their babies not a mouse, no! She drags them caught gazelles or antelopes, giving the opportunity to practice using such a "visual aid".

Still alive prey tries to escape, and the cubs catch up with it. Moreover, if the object of hunting nevertheless manages to escape, then the "dvoechniki" pupils remain without dinner. And the way animals teach young people to hunt is a very successful method, because it has a direct interest in the result. This is not just a game, but a struggle for food.

On a real hunt cheetahs take their kittens at four months of age. And they gradually become dexterous and dangerous predators. Although, of course, for a long time they will not be able to manage without the help of adults.

Transfer skills to offspring is an important element of education

About how the animals teach young people to hunt, you can tell a long time, especially since different species have it in different ways. But in most animals, it is the mother who shows the younger generation how to chew the grass or hunt for the mouse, in what situations it is worthwhile to enter a fight, and when it is better to hide.

Babies hone their skills in games with each other, and parents (here often helps and the father), grabbing a playful child by the withers, give to understand when to stop.

Some animals, for example seals, drop their cubs in the first days after birth. True, the latter have a sufficient supply of fat to survive for a while without food. And some abandon children gradually, simply leaving during the hunt further and further. So in the animal world there is one more independent individual, which in the future will have to be taught to hunt, and so to survive.