Prey can hide, flee, or fight to escape predation.

Prey organisms have diverse adaptations to avoid predators. Prey may try 

A) to flee its predator

B) defend itself by fighting, tough armor, or spines

C) to disguise itself 

Many circumstances determine which strategy, or combination of strategies the animal will use to minimize its chances of being caught. No matter what defense strategy an organism uses, they are all costly to the prey, requiring the allocation of large amounts of time, energy, and materials which are limited in supply. Predation has a major influence on the fitness of the organism and predators play important roles in natural selection.

Automimicry

      

A type of mimicry where one part of an animal resembles different features or even a different animal , which helps deter predators.

• Some species of caterpillar, have eyespots on their anterior abdominal segments. When alarmed, they retract the head and the thoracic segments into the body, leaving the apparently threatening large eyes at the front of the visible part of the body.  

• Some species of fishes have eyespots near their tails, and when mildly alarmed swim slowly backwards, presenting the tail as a head. Some insects too, have tail patterns and appendages of various degrees of sophistication that promote attacks at the rear rather than at the head.

Sessile organism defense

A sponge skeleton consists of an organic component (collagen protein) and mineral spicules. Spicules function for support as well as for defense.










In modular animals, chemical defenses are vital for they can not escape from their prey.

Triterpene glycosides are a chemical compound found in many Caribbean sponges.

Study on the left, presented sponges in a natural predation setting. However, control groups were fed no extract of triterpene glycoside. The treated sponges were given the chemical compound extract.

% of sponges eaten by predators were significantly less in treated sponges

Also, treated sponges had an adverse affect on organisms that can overgrow their area (allelopathy)

Batesian/Mullerian mimicry

In Batesian mimicry, one harmless prey species mimics the appearance of a harmful species that is noxious to predators, reducing the mimic's risk of attack. Predators that have tried to eat the unpalatable species learn to associate its colors and markings with an unpleasant taste. This results in the predator learning to avoid species displaying similar colors and markings.














Mullerian mimicry entails two harmful forms that have very similar warning or aposematic signals and both share genuine anti-predation attributes (e.g. being unpalatable/stinging) in order avoid a common predator. 

Aposematism

                     

(Warning coloration) 

    · Noxious and dangerous animals advertise their unfriendliness by bright, conspicuous colors.

    ·An example would be a Monarch butterfly and its caterpillar are both aposematically colored.

   ·The evolutionary argument is that the conspicuous coloration will be favored because noxious prey will be memorized by the predators with experience.

                ·  Predators and prey coevolved and the edible conspicuous prey was eliminated and the noxious conspicuous prey evolved.

•       The predators evolved by knowing what was edible and what was noxious.

Cryptic coloration

Cryptic coloration allows the animal to blend in with its environment to reduce its chances of being seen by a predator.