Successful hunting is vital for many mammals. First of all, they need highly developed hearing, smell, and eyesight to locate their prey. Because of their enormous flexibility or because their body is completely adapted, they can catch their prey well.
Hunting In Groups
Few animals hunt in packs; most hunt alone. The advantage of hunting in groups is that you can catch a larger animal. The disadvantage is that the loot has to be shared. Wild dogs, such as the African wild dog and the wolf, are particularly good at hunting together. African wild dogs first howl to gather the group and prepare each other for the hunt, then head out into the savannah together to stalk a herd of wildebeest gazelles or impalas.
Lions cautiously approach their prey from up to 30 meters away, forming a circle around their prey. Then a few of them make a short attack to mature the prey, while the other lions lie in wait to prevent the victim from escaping.
Killer whales also often hunt in groups.
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They use echolocation to track down their prey and communicate with each other through sounds. Fixed shoals sometimes have as many as 15 sounds, one of which indicates prey is near.
Take Potluck
Some mammals will either hunt or eat carrion, depending on what is available. A good example of this is the raccoon. With its agile paws, it can eat fruits, young shoots, and nuts or catch fish, small birds, and reptiles, as well as search through the garbage in the city.
Brown bears eat mostly vegetarian, but by the time the salmon jump upstream to spawn, they’re standing side by side in the water to feast on the fish. Coyotes hunt alone or in packs, but they also eat carrion and rummage around in garbage dumps.
Lone Hunters
Solitary hunters have a hard time: out of 20 attempts to catch prey, only one succeeds on average, so they often go hungry. If all goes well, they can eat a large meal in one sitting or last a few days.
The jaguar, like many felines, prowls, and hunts in the morning and dusk. Its food ranges from deer, reptiles, and fish to monkeys. Amazon jaguars can swim and they also hunt frogs, turtles, and even alligators.
Another solitary hunter is the polar bear. This one eats a meal of 45 kg of seal blubber in one go. It has an incredibly good sense of smell and can detect a dead animal up to 30 km away, and a live seal up to 1m under the ice. A polar bear slowly creeps up to its prey, stopping from time to time. 
He attacks the last part at a speed of 55 km per hour. Polar bears often stand guard for hours at a seal’s breathing hole in the ice and try to catch the seal when it appears.
Amazing Hunting Techniques
- The North American star mole is a very good swimmer and uses its snout, which consists of 22 fleshy ‘tentacles’, to smell and feel its prey.
- The South American sloth bear sucks in termites and ants through the hole formed by two missing upper incisors. Its suction can be heard up to 100 m away.
- Chimpanzees sometimes group together to kill prey such as monkeys, birds, and small antelopes.
- The fish cat from Southeast Asia scoops prey out of the water with its paws and even dives in to grab its victim.
- The water shrew from Europe and Asia hunts underwater. It bites its prey and paralyzes it with the venom in its saliva.
