The Neuroethology of Predation and Escape
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Multiple examples show that exchanging tools and concepts between behavioral ecology and neuroscience can be extremely useful for both fields.
“Even if optimal research programs in the two fields at first sight have contradictory demands, multiple examples show that exchanging tools and concepts can be extremely useful for both of them.189”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [189]
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Merilaita, S., Scott‐Samuel, N. E., & Cuthill, I. C. (2017) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0341 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Reticulospinal Systems for Tuning Motor Commands
Brownstone, R. M., & Chopek, J. W. (2018) · Frontiers in Neural Circuits · doi:10.3389/fncir.2018.00030 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
“Given that Mauthner cells were readily identifiable and that they share similar location, morphology, and synaptic connectivity across species, they have been well studied as command neurons (Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundEcological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice
Kondrakiewicz, K., Kostecki, M., Szadzińska, W., & Knapska, E. (2019) · Genes, Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1111/gbb.12525 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Cell-type-specific binocular vision guides predation in mice
Johnson, K. P., Fitzpatrick, M. J., Zhao, L., Wang, B., McCracken, S., Williams, P. R., & Kerschensteiner, D. (2021) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.03.010 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
“Hunting success is one of evolution’s main selection pressures (Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundFeature Detection by Retinal Ganglion Cells
Kerschensteiner, D. (2022) · Annual Review of Vision Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-vision-100419-112009 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
The Illusions of the Modern Synthesis
Noble, D. (2021) · Biosemiotics · doi:10.1007/s12304-021-09405-3 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“Anticipation is of great evolutionary significance (Simmers 2016).”
BackgroundPretectal neurons control hunting behaviour
Antinucci, P., Folgueira, M., & Bianco, I. H. (2019) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.48114 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
“Prey catching is an innate, complex behaviour that is crucial for survival (Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundThe neuroecology of the water-to-land transition and the evolution of the vertebrate brain
MacIver, M. A., & Finlay, B. L. (2021) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2020.0523 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Song, J., Dahlberg, E., & El Manira, A. (2018) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05827-9 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Removing a single neuron in a vertebrate brain forever abolishes an essential behavior
Hecker, A., Schulze, W., Oster, J., Richter, D. O., & Schuster, S. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1918578117 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Jain, R. A., Wolman, M. A., Marsden, K. C., Nelson, J. C., Shoenhard, H., Echeverry, F. A., Szi, C., Bell, H., Skinner, J., Cobbs, E. N., et al. (2018) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.025 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“The decision to perform one behavior over another depends not only on qualities relating to the stimulus but also on prior experiences and context [2, 3].”
BackgroundThe tectonigral pathway regulates appetitive locomotion in predatory hunting in mice
Huang, M., Li, D., Cheng, X., Pei, Q., Xie, Z., Gu, H., Zhang, X., Chen, Z., Liu, A., Wang, Y., et al. (2021) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24696-3 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Spinal cords: Symphonies of interneurons across species
Wilson, A. C., & Sweeney, L. B. (2023) · Frontiers in Neural Circuits · doi:10.3389/fncir.2023.1146449 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“Between species, they have uniquely adapted their movement repertoires to their environment, physiological needs, and mode of locomotion (Figure 1A; Hill et al., 2016; Sillar et al., 2016; Auclair et al., 2020).”
BackgroundBisphenols exert detrimental effects on neuronal signaling in mature vertebrate brains
Schirmer, E., Schuster, S., & Machnik, P. (2021) · Communications Biology · doi:10.1038/s42003-021-01966-w · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Soryl, A., Moore, A. J., Seddon, P. J., & King, M. R. (2021) · Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10806-021-09855-2 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Serotonergic modulation of vigilance states in zebrafish and mice
Zhao, Y., Huang, C., Gu, Y., Zhao, Y., Ren, W., Wang, Y., Chen, J., Guan, N. N., & Song, J. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47021-0 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Markham, M. R., Ban, Y., McCauley, A. G., & Maltby, R. (2016) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/icw104 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“Dozens of different vertebrate and invertebrate animals can jump over 10 times their own body height, the rough equivalent of a human jumping over a five-story building (Vogel 2003; Sillar et al. 2016).”
BackgroundOgre-Faced, Net-Casting Spiders Use Auditory Cues to Detect Airborne Prey
Stafstrom, J. A., Menda, G., Nitzany, E. I., et al. (2020) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.048 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Modular circuit organization for speed control of locomotor movements
Manira, A. E. (2023) · Current Opinion in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.conb.2023.102760 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Hunting in archerfish – an ecological perspective on a remarkable combination of skills
Schuster, S. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.159723 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Xu, L., Guan, N. N., Huang, C., Hua, Y., & Song, J. (2021) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.054 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Chopek, J. W., Zhang, Y., & Brownstone, R. M. (2021) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.00322.2021 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“For example, in 1859, Mauthner cells were identified in fish, where they were found to initiate turning movement (41).”
BackgroundThe processing of proprioceptive signals in distributed networks: insights from insect motor control
Gebehart, C., & Büschges, A. (2024) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.246182 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
The Mauthner cell in a fish with top-performance and yet flexibly-tuned C-starts II. Physiology
Machnik, P., Leupolz, K., Feyl, S., et al. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.175588 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“Characteristics of the Mauthner cell have facilitated the discovery of many fundamental insights in neuroscience, arguably more than any other vertebrate neuron (see Zottoli and Faber, 2000; Korn and Faber, 2005; Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundA pupillary contrast response in mice and humans: Neural mechanisms and visual functions
Fitzpatrick, M. J., Krizan, J., Hsiang, J.-C., Shen, N., & Kerschensteiner, D. (2024) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.012 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Tracking the marine migration routes of South Pacific silver eels
Chang, Y., Dall’Olmo, G., & Schabetsberger, R. (2020) · Marine Ecology Progress Series · doi:10.3354/meps13398 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“In these layers of the STUW, ripe eels may have to actively search for odor trails of individual conspecifics to find mates by following smell wafted down by the currents (Sillar et al. 2016).”
BackgroundMachnik, P., Schirmer, E., Glück, L., & Schuster, S. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-36130-8 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
The nature of perceptual constancies
Schulte, P. (2020) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.1111/phpr.12693 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Intersection of motor volumes predicts the outcome of ambush predation of larval zebrafish
Bhattacharyya, K., McLean, D. L., & MacIver, M. A. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.235481 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Predation without direction selectivity
Krizan, J., Song, X., Fitzpatrick, M. J., Shen, N., Soto, F., & Kerschensteiner, D. (2024) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2317218121 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
The decision to move: response times, neuronal circuits and sensory memory in a simple vertebrate
Roberts, A., Borisyuk, R. M., Buhl, E., Ferrario, A., Koutsikou, S., Li, W., & Soffe, S. R. (2019) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.0297 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Visual escape in larval zebrafish: stimuli, circuits, and behavior
Legorreta, E. M., Piber, M., & Scott, E. K. (2020) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-817528-6.00004-8 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Combining Old and New Tricks: The Study of Genes, Neurons, and Behavior in Crayfish
Stein, W., DeMaegd, M. L., Benson, A. M., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.947598 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“Arguably one of the best-characterized neuronal circuits is the one controlling the crayfish lateral giant (LGi) tail-flip escape response (Edwards et al., 1999; Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundMachnik, P., Leupolz, K., Feyl, S., Schulze, W., & Schuster, S. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.182535 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“INTRODUCTION The life-saving escape C-starts of teleost fish are among the fastest responses known in the animal kingdom (Eaton, 1984; Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundChou, T. L., Krishna, A., Fossesca, M., et al. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0290330 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“In some cases, animals have evolved anti-predator communication signals such as mobbing calls, alarm calls and alarm pheromones to alert conspecifics to predation threats [1, 2].”
BackgroundInfluentialA stochastic game model of searching predators and hiding prey
Steve Alpern, A., Gal, S., Lee, V., & Casas, J. (2019) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2019.0087 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Cooperation and cognition in wild canids
Berghänel, A., Lazzaroni, M., Cimarelli, G., Marshall‐Pescini, S., & Range, F. (2022) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101173 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Peripersonal space: why so last-second?
de Vignemont, F., & Farnè, A. (2024) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2023.0159 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“In many species, however, the same mechanisms are involved in both escape and predation: ‘the neural and muscular machinery that evolved for escape purposes has also been usurped (or perhaps co-evolved) within the same species for the purpose of attack’ [84, p. xv].”
Recordings in an integrating central neuron reveal the mode of action of isoeugenol
Machnik, P., Biazar, N., & Schuster, S. (2023) · Communications Biology · doi:10.1038/s42003-023-04695-4 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Socioecology and Evolutionary Neurobiology of Predatory Ants
Azorsa, F., Muscedere, M. L., & Traniello, J. F. A. (2022) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.804200 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Separate brainstem circuits for fast steering and slow exploratory turns
Xu, L., Zhu, B., Zhu, Z., Tao, X., Zhang, T., Manira, A. E., & Song, J. (2025) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-58621-9 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The archerfish predictive C-start
Schuster, S. (2023) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/s00359-023-01658-2 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“By firing water jets, these fish manage to dislodge unsuspecting aerial prey from overhanging twigs or leaves to then catch it, once it lands on the water surface (e.g., Smith 1936; Lüling 1963; Dill 1977; Sillar et al. 2016).”
BackgroundMethodThe neural basis of interspecies interactions in insects
Kanwal, J. K., & Parker, J. (2022) · Current Opinion in Insect Science · doi:10.1016/j.cois.2022.100891 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Interspecies interactions and their role in shaping sensorimotor pathways Critical choices that insects make while interacting with other organisms arise from a sequence of computations that the nervous system performs to transform sensory input into motor output [4].”
BackgroundRedefining the central pattern generator for vertebrate locomotion
Manira, A. E. (2026) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-026-01029-1 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Hungry for motion: the senses propel predation
Procacci, N. M., & Hoy, J. L. (2019) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41593-019-0412-5 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Leptinergic Regulation of Vertebrate Communication Signals
Nourbakhsh-Rey, M., & Markham, M. R. (2021) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/icab173 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Intersection of motor volumes predicts the outcome of ambush predation of larval zebrafishPreprint
Bhattacharyya, K., McLean, D. L., & MacIver, M. A. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/626549 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Bacchus, M. D., Domenici, P., Killen, S. S., et al. (2024) · Frontiers in Fish Science · doi:10.3389/frish.2023.1294259 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Following activation of this neural network, the body contracts and bends into a C-or S-shape, while typically positioning the head away from the startling stimulus, before rapidly accelerating away from the predator (21, 25).”
InfluentialPreserving predictive information under biologically plausible compression
Durian, S. C. L., Bojanek, K., Marre, O., & Palmer, S. E. (2026) · PNAS Nexus · doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag224 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“In the amphibian visual system, the OT is regarded as the main center for visuomotor behavior and object recognition (87, 88) and has evolutionary pressure to use predictive information to make fast motor responses to visual inputs (36 – 39).”
Preference for heights of feeding troughs in mares: a pilot study
Luz, M., Cm, M., Arruda, L., et al. (2019) · Animal Welfare · doi:10.7120/09627286.28.2.205 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Pronking and bounding allow a fast escape across a grassland populated by scattered obstacles
Righini, F., Carpineti, M., Giavazzi, F., et al. (2023) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.230587 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Tiny caterpillars assess threats by the footsteps of their enemies
Mauduit, E., Matheson, S. M., & Yack, J. E. (2026) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.252329 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“…(Sillaret al., 2016; Stevens, 2013) and although visual, chemical and auditory sensory modalities have been well documented in these dynamics (Sillar et al., 2016; Ruxton et al., 2018), predator – prey interactions in the vibroscape remain comparatively underexplored (Hill, 2008;…”
Sensing and control of locomotion in fishes
McHenry, M. J., & Peterson, A. N. (2025) · Fish physiology · doi:10.1016/bs.fp.2025.06.007 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
The SC-SNc pathway boosts appetitive locomotion in predatory huntingPreprint
Huang, M., Li, D., Pei, Q., Xie, Z., Gu, H., Liu, A., Chen, Z., Wang, Y., Sun, F., Li, Y., et al. (2020) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2020.11.23.395004 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“How the brain control appetitive locomotion during predatory hunting is an unresolved question in the field of neuroethology (Sillar et al., 2016).”
BackgroundLearning and cognition in highspeed decision making
Krause, M., Schulze, W., & Schuster, S. (2025) · eLife · doi:10.1101/2024.06.24.600552 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Plasticity and Learning in Motor Control Networks
Simmers, J., & Sillar, K. T. (2017) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118873397.ch13
Self-citationChanet, C., & Eubelen, D. (2019) · Springer series in cognitive and neural systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03104-6_10
Giant neuron is a key player for fast escape
Shimazaki, T., & Oda, Y. (2020) · Hikaku seiri seikagaku(Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry) · doi:10.3330/hikakuseiriseika.37.111
Local brainstem circuits contribute to reticulospinal output in the mousePreprint
Chopek, J. W., Zhang, Y., & Brownstone, R. M. (2021) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2021.01.11.426243
“For example, in 1859, Mauthner cells were identified in fish, where they were found to initiate turning movement (Sillar, 2016).”
BackgroundWhere Are We Going With All This?
Clement, R. A. (2022) · Lecture notes in morphogenesis · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-98495-3_8
Learning and cognition in highspeed decision makingPreprint
Krause, M., Schulze, W., & Schuster, S. (2024) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.99634
“Their so-called predictive C-start decisions are among the fastest C-starts known in fish and are initiated much faster than an Olympic sprinter can respond to the start gun ( Sillar et al., 2016 ; see Video 1 for an appreciation of the decision’s speed).”
Learning and cognition in highspeed decision makingPreprint
Krause, M., Schulze, W., & Schuster, S. (2025) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.99634.2
Dinâmica temporal dos mecanismos neuronais
Silva, A. (2024) · Editora Universidade de Brasília eBooks · doi:10.7476/9786558462750.0005
Amme, J. L., Grady, J. M., Bhaskaran-Nair, K., et al. (2026) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2026.09.03.749200
“Predatory hunting, defined as the pursuit, capture, and killing of animals for food, is highly conserved and widely expressed across the animal kingdom, making it a useful paradigm for studying complex, ethologically relevant behavior 2–4 .”
Influential
- Authors
- Sillar, K. T., Picton, L. D., & Heitler, W. J.
- Venue
- Wiley eBooks
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-02-26
- OpenAlex
- W2480677584
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 3.15
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Wiley eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Keywords
- neuroethology, predation, escape behavior, predator-prey interactions, animal behavior, neural control of behavior
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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