A predator is an organism that captures and eats another (the prey). This act is called predation.
In general, predators share the following features:
• They are usually larger than their prey, or overwhelm their prey by attacking in large numbers like ants.
• Most do not have specific prey and feed on a wide range of animals which, in some cases, they consume in large numbers. Lady beetles for example, can devour several hundred aphids in a day.
• Some are specific, targeting a particular prey group. For example. feather-legged assassin bugs are known to feed only on ants.
• Death to the victim is usually immediately after capture.
• Adults or young may be predatory. In a number of cases the young are predatory but the adults are not. Adults of alderflies or dobsonflies do not eat but their aquatic larvae are fierce predators.