# What are the physical differences between predators and prey in animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170 "2013-08-26T02:44:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/1 "2013-08-26T02:44:58Z")
I’ve heard that predators have eyes in front (to see in 3D and judge distance), while prey tends to have eyes on the side of the head (to spot predators). Aside from that, are there differences? I once heard predators tend to be smarter but I have no idea how true that is. It was my understanding that intelligence was a trait of social animals, and not so much about whether something is a predator or prey. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/2 "2013-08-26T02:52:53Z")
Carnivores tend to have relatively higher brain size compared to body size than herbivores. You usually have to be smarter than your prey to catch it. Also, because meat provides more energy than vegetation, carnivores have more energy available to grow big brains. Herbivores have longer and more complex digestive systems because plants are much harder to digest than meat. They also have to spend much more of their time eating. Herbivores may eat almost continuously when they are awake, while carnivores may go several days between meals. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/3 "2013-08-26T02:59:27Z")
Teeth, man, it’s all about teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/4 "2013-08-26T03:08:48Z")
Predators are from Mars while Herbivores are from Venus. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/5 "2013-08-26T03:27:51Z")
Predators usually need to have some mechanism to kill their prey. Strong jaws, sharp teeth, poison, etc. At lot of prey are predators themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/6 "2013-08-26T04:01:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Predators are from Mars while Herbivores are from Venus. The commute for the predators must suck. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/7 "2013-08-26T04:21:24Z")
The evolved ones order food deliveries. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/8 "2013-08-26T13:09:28Z")
Prey is tasty, predators are not not. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/9 "2013-08-26T13:15:51Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I’ve heard that predators have eyes in front (to see in 3D and judge distance), while prey tends to have eyes on the side of the head (to spot predators). There are lots of predators with eyes on the sides of their heads. Snakes, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/10 "2013-08-26T13:24:13Z")
True, but all predator mammals at least are eyes to the front. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/11 "2013-08-26T14:05:56Z")
prey is tasty grain fed animals. predators are tasty animal fed animals. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/12 "2013-08-26T15:12:46Z")
Regarding brain size, brains do more than “think,” they also process sensory information. While both predators and prey need senses potent enough to detect threats, predators also need sophisticated senses to find food (generally, plants are not as hard to target) and the mental processing power to gauge distances, catch mobile prey, track scents, and so forth. So a larger-brained predator is typically processing a lot of sensory and motor information in addition to having to understand prey behavior, plan an attack, and other things we’d call “smart.” ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/13 "2013-08-26T15:33:03Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > prey is tasty grain fed animals. predators are tasty animal fed animals. Not really. Most prey animals are not considered tasty except perhaps for certain internal organs. Bear meat is described as having a lot of gristle, wolves are described tasting nasty. Alligator and rattlesnake meat is eaten, but more as a curiosity and often processed into a sausage like substance in order to make it palpable. There is a reason you don’t find meat eating animals in the super market; if they were actually tasty someone would raise them and sell them for human consumption. I would even guess that the dog that they sell in Korean Markets are grain fed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/14 "2013-08-26T16:22:06Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Prey is tasty, predators are not not. Does this mean that they are are? ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/15 "2013-08-26T16:25:49Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Not really. Most prey animals are not considered tasty except perhaps for certain internal organs. Is this possibly learned, though? Taste is largely acquired–the juicy cheeseburger that I love grosses out a friend who is a life-long vegetarian. Prey animals are easier (and cheaper) to keep as livestock and so that’s what we’re used to eating, as opposed to predators having a generally distinct taste that humans find, uh, distasteful. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/16 "2013-08-26T16:49:10Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > True, but all predator mammals at least are eyes to the front. How do dolphins and orcas fit into that? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/17 "2013-08-26T17:04:31Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Is this possibly learned, though? Taste is largely acquired–the juicy cheeseburger that I love grosses out a friend who is a life-long vegetarian. Prey animals are easier (and cheaper) to keep as livestock and so that’s what we’re used to eating, as opposed to predators having a generally distinct taste that humans find, uh, distasteful. Possibly, but that is where we are. Grain fed animals taste good and meat eating predators do not. I know of few hunters that would even consider eating a predator other than to show that they are macho alpha males; and even then they acknowledge that its not really tasty, but perhaps just getting themselves used to the taste of it just in case they may one day have to eat it to survive. I also know of hunters who will not hunt northern Michigan deer because those deer eat mostly wild foliage; they prefer to eating southern Michigan or Ohio deer because those are mostly grain fed. If there was a market for predator meat someone would raise it and try to mass market it. How hard is it to feed a snake rats until it plumped up to full size? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/18 "2013-08-26T17:06:34Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > How do dolphins and orcas fit into that? I know dolphins echolocate. Do orcas? ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/19 "2013-08-26T17:35:52Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Possibly, but that is where we are. Grain fed animals taste good and meat eating predators do not. We eat plenty of meat-eating fish like salmon. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170/20 "2013-08-26T18:25:46Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > We eat plenty of meat-eating fish like salmon. I was waiting for someone to chime in with this. Perhaps this is why fish (seafood) is considered a separate food group from mammals. Now the question is where do they keep the reptile steaks? A nice iguana burger or geeko taco sounds good right now 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-physical-differences-between-predators-and-prey-in-animals/667170.md?page=2)