Creatures of the bait and snitch

Cheetahs don't bait antelope, they just lace up their Hokas and run them down. Yep, their hunting approach includes a small amount of stealth followed by explosive speed. (Don't know Hokas? Check them out, they are all I wear. No, I don't run!) Grizzly bears don't shop at Orvis for the latest bamboo fly rod or a pair of waders, they just stand in the shallow rapids and snatch jumping fish with their mouths. Of course, their mouths are equipped with a serious row of fish-securing spikes. (Note to self: Grow bamboo and make fly fishing rods and become a millionaire.) American kestrels can see where voles have urinated. (Rumor has it that it shows up purple in their vision.) (Color reference needed, but it sounds cool!) If you know anything about rodents, they go a lot. So, very near the purple puddle there is likely to be a kestrel meal. And kestrels do this without making a single purchase of techy optics from Cabela's or sight-shifting contact lenses from Bausch & Lomb. Nope, it's just how their eyes and brains work, and when they combine this with their ability to hover, then they hunt their prey pretty successfully. All of the above, although pretty remarkable, are what most of us think of as classic predatory approaches. You know, predators are big, strong, fast and well-equipped to catch other animals. Basically -- have ability, will eat. But then a story started to circulate lately that made me rethink the idea of "classic" predation. The featured animal's approach included baiting its prey. That seemed unfair, but as one thought led to another, I quickly started to recall that lots of predators use baiting as a way to hunt. While some of them are gifted with cunning appendages, others take a more thoughtful approach. So, here's a few favorite predatory baiters. SPIDER-TAILED HORNED VIPER Ahh, the recent internet star! This venomous snake haunts and hunts the dry hills of Iran and Iraq. Its body bares the colors and patterns of its desert habitat so it can literally lie in wait just about anywhere. Easy enough, when a meal wanders by it strikes with blazing speed. But why just sit and wait? especially when you have an unusual tip on your tail. So, when hungry, this viper starts wiggling the tip of its unusual tail, which is small and bulbous and ranked with projections that look like legs. When taken as a whole, this tail-tip remarkably resembles a spider, especially to a hungry bird. And when it flies in to pick up its spider meal, it, almost instantly, becomes the snake's meal. ANGLERFISH All 300+ species of anglerfish are ugly. That's just a fact. But this matters little to the deep-sea anglerfish. It lives far below the ability of the sun to illuminate the darkness of its ocean world. Basically, where deep-sea anglerfish live, nobody sees nobody. Sexual dimorphism reigns supreme in the world of this fish. Females are large and males are small and clingy, as in literally clingy! Young male deep-sea anglerfish bite females and don't let go. Over time, they fuse with the female's skin and blood stream and then loose their internal organs, even their eyes. The only thing they retain are their reproductive organs. Weirder yet, most adult females have several males clinging on them. So, to feed themselves and their infused husbands, a female deep-sea anglerfish must hunt often and does so by baiting in her meals. She employs a special dorsal fin spine that is extra-long and angles well forward. The tip of this spine is bulbous and contains a small population of light omitting bacteria. When hungry she twitches this spine, and the ball of light dances. Small deep-sea fish see this and say, "I don't know what that is, but I'm checking it out." And they do ... but are never seen again. ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE The alligator snapping turtle can close its jaws with 1,000 pounds per square inch force, and considering that the edges of its jaws are razor sharp, then … well … you get the painful picture. The trouble is the alligator snapping turtle has a weight problem. Since it can grow its entire life and live for decades, it can easily reach over 100 pounds. So, moving around is not just taxing, but a predatory challenge. But, not to worry, alligator snapping turtles bait in their meals. They do so by opening their cavernous mouths and wiggling a small appendage on their tongues. Darn if this thing doesn't look like a worm! And darn if their giant, open mouths don't look like, well, they must look like nothing significant because small fish readily swim in to check out the turtle's wormy tongue. Then, faster than lightning, everything goes dark. One less little fish and one more meal for the fat turtle. (And you would think that other small fish would see this and add it to their school's curriculum.) GREEN HERON The green heron is a wading bird about the size of a crow, a greasy green crow. Compared to other herons and egrets, it doesn't possess the longest neck or legs. Thus, hunting in the shallows is a bit more difficult for this bird. But green herons work smarter, not harder. Here's what it does: In the heat of the summer shallows, the green heron stands motionless and spreads its wings horizontally. The result is shade and hot little fish love … need … shade. So, they swim into the shade and into oblivion. But these little fish talk, and the simple shade trick often stops working. No problem. the green heron just advances its hunting tactics to level 2. It now places a bug, or sometimes just a stick or feather, onto the surface of the water within its created shade. In the educational system of small fish, they may teach them about the dangers of shade, but obviously not of the temptation of gifts of food. Needless to say, they can't resist, and green heron strikes, swallows and laughs at its taller, stalking cousins!