[Space] Social Pouncing Carnivores?

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Can anyone reference an example of a real-world (extinct or otherwise) species of highly social pouncing carnivores?

[downer]

Lions. Possibly some dinosaur species (the notorious Raptors), but of course that's speculation.

[Walrus]

Aquatic mammals like shamoo (killer whale). Dolphins also as well as a lot of aquatic fish-hunting birds, especially penguins. Fin-footed carnivores also but not every of them really hunt, some (like Walruses =)) just "collect" sessile shellfish.

Sorry, I haven't noticed "pouncing" inititally. Does it mean that they pounce together?

Then again dolphins (if we treat fish school as single prey), a lot of Canidae and Hyaenidae, some big Felines, lions especially, but others also hunt in groups, just smaller ones.

Also you may be interested in this thread.

[Lord Carnifex]

They don't hunt in groups, but felis domesticus is pretty social. Of course, group hunting tends to be incompatible with stealth, so I don't know of any pouncers that hunt together, really.

[Bruno]

You don't need to be social while gathering food to be social. Housecats are the posterchild for this - they form colonies into the hundreds if there's enough food, they practice collective childrearing, social grooming, collective play as adults (without human contact)...

Housecats may have been manipulated by humans into becoming this social pouncing carnivore, but they're still a good example. They also provide an example of what might prompt this sort of stage in a species development - have a source of pouncable prey exist "in the thick" of a larger, highly social species that considers the prey to be undesirable parasites and the predator to be minimally-threatening.

[cybermancer2k1]

I've seen film footage of tigers (not usually considered social) working together to bring down prey. But I'd think most animals probably form one-shot alliances when hungry enough.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by downer

Lions. Possibly some dinosaur species (the notorious Raptors), but of course that's speculation.

I once made an alien race based on both. Lots of fun (and a great, stereotypical "Honorable Warrior Race")

[SonofJohn]

Aint lions chasers?

How about Bats, they are pouncer and they form large colonies...

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by SonofJohn

Aint lions chasers?

No. Lions have crummy endurance, actually. They stalk as close as possible to their prey, run or leap a very short distance, and grapple. When they give chase, it's because this went wrong. By contrast, a cheetah will run down its prey from the outset. And lion(esse)s are often social while hunting, some taking position in the prey's path of escape, to intercept it in the event that the primary hunter's pounce fails.

Which isn't the same thing as lions being slow. By human standards, they're fast. By cheetah standards, not so much.

Lions don't pounce from above, though. For that, see leopards.

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Housecats may have been manipulated by humans into becoming this social pouncing carnivore, but they're still a good example. They also provide an example of what might prompt this sort of stage in a species development - have a source of pouncable prey exist "in the thick" of a larger, highly social species that considers the prey to be undesirable parasites and the predator to be minimally-threatening.

Upon a walk through Wikipedia, it appears that ferrets are similar.