Predator trap

A predator trap is a natural hazard such as a tar pit. Predators are attracted to struggling animals that have become entrapped in viscous or glutinous material, such as a heavy sedimentary deposit or tar and, in the process, become entrapped themselves. More predators, scavengers, insects and birds become attracted to this mounting accumulation of carrion, until a wide variety of animals are caught and ultimately killed by the hazard. This may happen many times over. Typically, the number of lured predators will greatly outnumber the prey, thus providing the name.

A famous example is the La Brea Tar Pits site. The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry may yet prove to be a further example, although still nowadays it is debated if it's a predator trap or not. The Gobi Desert dinosaur death traps may have been sauropod footprints that have been filled with a mixture of thick mud & sandstone in the former wetland.

References

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.