ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, a feeding frenzy is a type of animal group activity that occurs when

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s are overwhelmed by the amount of

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

available. The term is also used as an

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a Literal and figurative language, figurative or non-literal meaning (linguistic), meaning, rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic speech, formulaic ...

in the English language.

Examples in nature

For example, a large school of fish can cause nearby

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

s, such as the

lemon shark The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Requiem shark, Carcharhinidae, known for its yellowish skin, which inspires its common name. It is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for ...

, to enter into a feeding frenzy. This can cause the sharks to go wild, biting anything that moves, including each other or anything else within biting range. Another functional explanation for feeding frenzy is competition amongst predators.Staddon. Adaptive Behavior and Learning. Foraging and Behavioral Ecology. Retrieved from: http://psychandneuro.duke.edu/uploads/assets/Chapter09.pdf This term is most often used when referring to sharks or

piranha A piranha (, or ; ) is any of a number of freshwater fish species in the subfamily Serrasalminae, of the family Serrasalmidae, in the order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs. Although ...

English language uses

It has also been used as a term within

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

. Feeding frenzy:how attack journalism has transformed American politics, Sabato, Larry., Macmillan., 1991
/ref> The term is occasionally used to describe a plethora of something. For instance, a 2016 Bloomberg News article is entitled: "March Madness Is a Fantasy Sports Feeding Frenzy." In economics the term can be used to describe the economics of the music industry, as large music companies acquired smaller music companies.

References

{{modelling ecosystems, expanded=none Eating behaviors Idioms Adages fr:Attaque de requin#La frénésie alimentaire

Examples in nature

English language uses

See also

References