Predation is the interaction in which the predator attacks live prey and consumes it. The interaction can be between two or more individuals, and is to the benefit of the predator and at the expense of the prey. The study of predator-prey interactions is broad and includes behaviors of the predator (such as searching, handling, and consuming prey), adaptations of the prey (survival strategies), and phenomena of their coexistence, such as stabilization factors that allow both groups to persist. It should be noted that there are four types of predators: true predators (including cannibals), grazers, parasitoids, and parasites. This entry will focus on true predators.

If a predator were fully efficient, all of its prey would be eaten. The prey would go extinct, and so would the predator. But the predator-prey interactions seen in nature allow both to sustain themselves. The first researchers to model how these interactions...