Why don't predators usually hunt predators?

Question

A jackel is no bigger & no stronger than a gazell.Yet.A lepord chooses to hunt gazell instead.

I heard its because predatory animals taste funny.That's why humans aren't pickings even from fierce animals that could kill us easy like wolves,cougars,and bears.

Answer 1

Well generally speaking humans are the same.We don't eat animals who eat other animals.All our domestic animals are grain or fodder eaters.They become food for our table Not so dogs,cats,foxes etc who are natural hunters.The same with the birds.All our domestic poultry are grain eaters.Even the fish in the sea,we don't harvest the predators for food.So it's nothing to do with size,more to do with diet.If an animal eats meat.That animal is excluded from our diet.Most of the others are game.

Answer 2

preditors do eat preditors.humans are the absolute top of the food chain,and we will eat anything.not saying you will go out and eat fluffy or fido but some countries will. someone made the statement humans wont eat animals that eat animals,wrong every culture in the world eats fish,and fish eat smaller fish and so on.and they also said chickens eat grains alone. boy are you wrong,they also eat insects.And pigs yeas they eat grains but the are often fed leftovers,including meat as well to "fatten" them up.
in the wild world animals tend to go after "easy" meals.why would a leopard want to try to kill something like a hyena .the leopard could possibly be hurt or killed and they know this.the only exception i can think of is polar bears,they will actively hunt whales(a certain kind i cant remember) which is way larger and could kill the bear.

I have ate bear before and they are quite tasty,Don't knock it till you try it.

Answer 3

Predators do hunt other predators, but it is more difficult because there are less of them, and they fight back. For example, killer whales will hunt other whales, polar bears, seals, etc, all of which are also predators.

As far as pollution is concerned, predators that eat other predators are more likely to have concentrated amounts of toxins. So they may taste bad.

Humans usually eat herbivores because they are cheaper to raise. You don't need to raise animals to feed them.

Answer 4

They do... your question is based on a faulty premise. Most fish prey on other predatory fish, hawks prey on snakes and weasels etc etc and there are many other food chains where predators eat predators. Top predators prey on many other species some are carnivores some herbivores. You could have better worded the question... "Why don't top carnivores generally prey on other top carnivores ?" (for example leopard vs jackal) the simple answer to that question is.... top carnivores are better able to defend themselves from other top predators because they generally have large sharp teeth and claws, like thier attackers. Its far easier and safer to prey on a creature who doesnt have weapons comparable to your own and is usually available in far greater numbers. Even so some large predators are able to prey upon one another sucessfully enough... Wolves in British Columbia quite often prey on Brown bears, despite thier size and strength they are solitary and it is easy for 12+ wolves to prey upon them. The brown bears will prey on wolves if possible but since wolves are pack animals it is not worth the dangerous effort to hunt them consistently.

Ps In response to the post a couple above mine, humans do eat animals that eat other animals.... we eat fish, seals, shark, bear, pigs, Snowshoe hare (yes they eat meat, quite often in fact they scavenge animal remains) the list goes on... snake, squid, octopus, some people even eat dogs and cats...

Answer 5

predators that eat other predators are called secondary carnivores. There are all sorts of species that are secondary carnivores. A hawk that eats a snake that ate a bird that ate an insect that ate a smaller insect - thats 4 levels of carnivory that happen right in my back yard. There is only one rule for carnivores that prey on other carnivores: you have to eat carnivores that are smaller than you. All of the animals you mentioned are large carnivores of similar size - so they can't eat each other.

Answer 6

Predators are at the top of the food chain,which means there are less of them ... depending on their prey animal, they have to use relatively more land and are less dense and harder to find ... predators eating predators is mathematically more difficult because of this especially in desolate and food scarce environments.

Answer 7

predators do hunt predators. In Life chain it is survival of the fittest, and there is always something smaller in the chain which is hunted, like dog----cat. cat......bird. bird.....worms. so likewise with even bigger prey.

Answer 8

I think it's because the gazelle doesn't have sharp pointy teeth.

Answer 9

predators do hunt and kill other predators

Answer 10

because they normally eat different food so they don't clash!!!
plus they might be full!