Among non-flying insects, I’ve never observed a ‘prey’ insect make any significant effort to avoid a predator by running away. I have heard that wolf spiders catch their prey by chasing it down, and I would LOVE to watch this in action, but it seems like prey insects are kind of dumb when some carnivore comes barreling after them.
Does the Praying Mantis ALWAYS bag his quarry? I mean as impressive looking as lions/tigers are in the wild, it takes them many attempts to bring down a prey animal. But it kind of seems like prey animals in the insect world don’t seem to put up much of a fight.
A good example is aphids. Ladybugs will just nonchalantly munch away at countless aphids, while their aphid brethren are totally ignorant of the carnage going on. Why don’t the aphids run away? I mean, you don’t see a pack of wolves gorging on cow after cow in a pasture while the rest of them just keep eating grass.
Drivel follows:
Ever try to catch a bug? When they are just out for a stroll they move at bug speed, but when you try to pick them up the kick it into high gear and about double their pace. I interpret that as a flee (flea…huh huh) instinct. Same with fleas, for that matter when you find one they certainly don’t just continue on their merry way–they disappear. Spiders are huge cowards this way as well unless you corner them.
One reason you don’t see a herd mentality run away instinct is likely tied to the obscenely high reproductive rate of bugs in general. They don’t *need *to curtail their feeding & breeding activities because by the time the ladybug finishes off Timmy the Aphid he’s been replaced elsewhere in the garden.
Every try and swat a mosquito or housefly? Or catch a dragonfly? Or mash a cockroach? A lot of bugs do have very well developed fleaing, uh, fleeing responses.
The thing is, a lot of bugs rely on other kinds of protection besides just running away. For many it’s camoflage, so they mostly try and stay still when they think something is hunting them (similar to young deer or other mammals).
For others it’s chemical defenses, like the Monarch butterfly, or the honeybee, so they try and be as noticed as possible – 'hey don’t eat me because I’m poisonous or stinging".
So not all bugs need to run (or fly) away fast. Therefore they don’t.