Obscure rivals.

[Supercommunist]

Everyone knows that hyenas and lions have adverse relationships and that mongooses are notorious cobra killers but I figured it would be fun to create a thread for fairly even matches that do appear somewhat common.

Until recently I assumed skunks where much better fighters than oppossums as there were several old videos of them preying on them but recently the opposums have been getting payback.

Skunk wins:







Oppossum victories.






3 for 3 as far as I know.

[Infinity Blade]

How about the lesser grison and the Argentine black and white tegu? I know you posted a video of a tegu besting a grison with its bite. Here's a record of a grison preying on a tegu 76% its size.

www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?pid=S0327-93832020000200182&script=sci_arttext

(Why do we have a matchup pitting the tegu against the greater grison?)

[Supercommunist]

Feb 15, 2024 6:14:13 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

How about the lesser grison and the Argentine black and white tegu? I know you posted a video of a tegu besting a grison with its bite. Here's a record of a grison preying on a tegu 76% its size.

www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?pid=S0327-93832020000200182&script=sci_arttext

(Why do we have a matchup pitting the tegu against the greater grison?)

There used to be another video of a female/young male tegu that grabbed a grison by the forelimb and ragdolled it. We even discussed it on this forum. Sadly, that video seems to be scrubbed off the internet.

Here is another video of a tegu fending off a grison.



Overall it seems that grisons while good at hunting adult females and younger males they can put up a good fight and the large males may usually be off the menu.

Continuing on with the South American theme, guancos seems to consistently give cougars the fight of their lives.

[Supercommunist]

Feb 15, 2024 1:29:00 GMT 5 Supercommunist said:

Everyone knows that hyenas and lions have adverse relationships and that mongooses are notorious cobra killers but I figured it would be fun to create a thread for fairly even matches that do appear somewhat common.

Until recently I assumed skunks where much better fighters than oppossums as there were several old videos of them preying on them but recently the opposums have been getting payback.

Skunk wins:







Oppossum victories.






3 for 3 as far as I know.

More fights:

[yotuube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FoTWEhisYI[/youtube]

[Infinity Blade]

Large squids seem to be paired up against sperm whales a lot (especially the giant squid), but the colossal squid seems to have a rival in the Antarctic toothfish. Both species prey on what are at least vulnerable adult individuals of the other. The colossal squid is a much larger animal than the Antarctic toothfish (100-400 kg vs 50-80 kg), which gives it something of an advantage and is thought to make it unlikely for toothfish to attack healthy adults. However, the squid is also not an active predator, but instead a very slow ambush or sit-and-wait predator, which can make things easier for the toothfish and harder for the squid to catch a healthy adult.

Data collected onboard two South Korean longliners in 2011–2014 targeting Antarctic toothfish provided insights into trophic interactions between two Antarctic top predators: the colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni and the Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni. Adults of each species opportunistically prey upon weakened representatives of the other species: squid will feed on longline-caught toothfish, and toothfish on dying and dead squid. The highest occurrence of squid attacks was recorded in the Davis Sea and Commonwealth Sea, and the lowest in the Ross Sea. Squid depredation rates were around 1% on average, though regionally they might rise to 2–3%, which is of a similar magnitude to rates caused by sperm whales and killer whales in some areas.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222933.2015.1040477


Sea kraits, which are highly venomous, also seem to be prolific predators of eels. However, the eels seem to be dangerous prey.

www.researchgate.net/publication/225164769_Highly_venomous_sea_kraits_must_fight_to_get_their_prey

During a dive tour at The Pinnacle dive site, Balayan Bay, an adult (estimated total length ~120cm) Yellow‐lipped
Sea Krait (Laticauda colubrina) was observed foraging in crevices at a depth of about 15 meters. The water temperature was 26°C with a strong current. After a while, the snake noticed an eel’s head (Gymnothorax sp.) protruding from a crevice. The snake bit its prey, holding it by its head until it stopped struggling (Fig. 1). Due to the strong current, the act of swallowing the prey was not photographed.

www.ecologyasia.com/pdf/2023/seavr2023-006(p013-014).pdf

Here, a sea krait swallows a sizable eel:

www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/banded-sea-krait-snake-moray-eel-reefs


Honestly, I think sea krait vs eel (whether moray or conger) is one of the coolest predator-prey relationships in the modern world. I mean, how often do you have a predator-prey relationship where the prey item is another predator that is large, well-armed, and dangerous enough to routinely harm the predator?

[Supercommunist]

Jul 15, 2024 4:10:37 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

Large squids seem to be paired up against sperm whales a lot (especially the giant squid), but the colossal squid seems to have a rival in the Antarctic toothfish. Both species prey on what are at least vulnerable adult individuals of the other. The colossal squid is a much larger animal than the Antarctic toothfish (100-400 kg vs 50-80 kg), which gives it something of an advantage and is thought to make it unlikely for toothfish to attack healthy adults. However, the squid is also not an active predator, but instead a very slow ambush or sit-and-wait predator, which can make things easier for the toothfish and harder for the squid to catch a healthy adult.

Data collected onboard two South Korean longliners in 2011–2014 targeting Antarctic toothfish provided insights into trophic interactions between two Antarctic top predators: the colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni and the Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni. Adults of each species opportunistically prey upon weakened representatives of the other species: squid will feed on longline-caught toothfish, and toothfish on dying and dead squid. The highest occurrence of squid attacks was recorded in the Davis Sea and Commonwealth Sea, and the lowest in the Ross Sea. Squid depredation rates were around 1% on average, though regionally they might rise to 2–3%, which is of a similar magnitude to rates caused by sperm whales and killer whales in some areas.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222933.2015.1040477


Sea kraits, which are highly venomous, also seem to be prolific predators of eels. However, the eels seem to be dangerous prey.

www.researchgate.net/publication/225164769_Highly_venomous_sea_kraits_must_fight_to_get_their_prey

During a dive tour at The Pinnacle dive site, Balayan Bay, an adult (estimated total length ~120cm) Yellow‐lipped
Sea Krait (Laticauda colubrina) was observed foraging in crevices at a depth of about 15 meters. The water temperature was 26°C with a strong current. After a while, the snake noticed an eel’s head (Gymnothorax sp.) protruding from a crevice. The snake bit its prey, holding it by its head until it stopped struggling (Fig. 1). Due to the strong current, the act of swallowing the prey was not photographed.

www.ecologyasia.com/pdf/2023/seavr2023-006(p013-014).pdf

Here, a sea krait swallows a sizable eel:

www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/banded-sea-krait-snake-moray-eel-reefs


Honestly, I think sea krait vs eel (whether moray or conger) is one of the coolest predator-prey relationships in the modern world. I mean, how often do you have a predator-prey relationship where the prey item is another predator that is large, well-armed, and dangerous enough to routinely harm the predator?

Sea snakes seem pretty aggressive at least as far as eels are concerned.

Look at this mad snake attack a much larger moray.

[Supercommunist]

A tegu puts up a spirited defense against 2 grisons. Outcome is not known.

www.reddit.com/r/HardcoreNature/comments/1e752ry/comment/ldxrzh4/