Wildlife
Predation defence comes in many forms: physiological, anatomical and behavioural. Physical defences such as spines and armour are obvious adaptations, but other defences can be more subtle and surprising. Whether it's avoiding detection through camouflage and mimicry, chemical defence through being poisonous or exuding irritants, it's all about one thing: avoiding being eaten. Some animals rely on increasing their chances of detecting predators by living in groups and using alarm calls to warn each other of danger.
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Synchronised swimming
Shoals containing billions of Indian oil sardines move in unison to confuse predators.
Shoals containing billions of Indian oil sardines move in unison to confuse predators.
Jerboa’s great escape
A hairy-footed, long-legged jerboa leaps 10 times its own body length to escape a fox.
A hairy-footed, long-legged jerboa leaps 10 times its own body length to escape a desert fox.
Leap of faith
Freshwater butterfly fish avoid being eaten by leaping out of the water.
Freshwater butterfly fish avoid being eaten by leaping out of the water when under threat from underwater predators.
Slippery character
A hagfish's slime defence keeps predators and rival scavengers at bay.
Hagfish are relics from an age before the dinosaurs. They can turn seawater into slime. The glands that line their body fire out protein pellets that swell on contact with water and other glands which fire explosive threads. Together they form an impenetrable slime barrier that suffocates predators. To avoid the same fate, the hagfish can slip off its slimy coat by passing a knot down its body. One hagfish oozes enough gunge to turn a whole bucket of water into slime. As well as deterring predators, this gloopy mucus keeps rival hagfish away as it scavenges on rotten carcasses.
Playing possum
Birds, opossums, frogs and the hognose snake feign death to deter predators.
These animals aren't dead. They are putting on a remarkable performance. Birds enter this trance like state quite readily. Frogs who appear to die and turn on their backs, but it's just a bluff. The hognose snake lolls its tongue to fake death throws and gives off the stench of decay. It was the opossum that gave death-feigning its name. As it plays possum, anal secretions make it smell like a rotten corpse. This behaviour is easily triggered by hypnosis techniques and the animals often wake up together. They play dead because most predators won't touch carrion.
Hedgehog
Long-eared hedgehog
Aardvark
Pangolins
Pygmy three-toed sloth
Armadillos
Glyptodonts
Southern three-banded armadillo
Banded mongoose
Cheetah
Meerkat
Ringed seal
White-nosed coati
African buffalo
Bharal
Bighorn sheep
Blackbuck
Hippopotamus
Mongolian gazelle
Musk ox
Pronghorn antelope
Springbok
Thomson's gazelle
Water buffalo
Yellow-bellied glider
Indian rhinoceros
Chimpanzee
Olive baboon
Slow lorises
Western gorilla
Black-tailed prairie dog
Brants's whistling rat
Damaraland mole rat
European beaver
Gunnison's prairie dog
Himalayan marmot
Wood mouse
Macaroni penguin
Goldeneye
Snow goose
Black-necked grebe
Eleonora's falcon
Pied kingfisher
Burrowing owl
Tawny owl
Burrowing parrot
House sparrow
Jay
Reed bunting
Sand martin
Starling
Arctic skua
Common ringed plover
Little ringed plover
South polar skua
Snow petrel
Postosuchus
Ankylosaurs
Armoured dinosaurs
Horned dinosaurs
Iguanodons
Protoceratops
Stegosaurus
Triceratops
Apatosaurus
Argentinosaurus
Diplodocid dinosaurs
Diplodocus
Sauropod dinosaurs
Boa constrictor
Cape dwarf chameleon
Eyelash viper
Frilled lizard
Grass snake
Inland taipan
King cobra
Monocled cobra
Rattlesnakes
Sand goanna
Shingleback skink
Slow worm
Thorny devil
Water monitor
Eastern box turtle
Galápagos giant tortoise
Giant river turtle
Gopher tortoise
Green sea turtle
Radiated tortoise
Common toad
Panamanian golden frog
Smoky jungle frog
Venezuela pebble toad
True salamanders and newts
Army ant
Buff-tailed bumblebee
Common wasp
Hairy wood ant
Hornet
Leaf-cutter ants
Saharan silver ant
Scottish wood ant
Common glow-worm
Great diving beetle
Seven-spot ladybird 
Adonis blue
Brimstone
Cabbage white
Marsh fritillary
Peacock butterfly
Swallowtail
Woolly bear moths
Praying mantisAntipredator adaptations are evolutionary adaptations developed over time, which assist prey organisms in their constant struggle against their predators.
A predator's acquisition of a food source can be divided into four stages: detection, attack, capture and consumption. At every stage in this predatory sequence, adaptations that maximize the prey's chance of survival have evolved.
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Blackberry 
Conifers 
Hawthorn 
Horse chestnut 
Saguaros 
Stinging nettle 
Stingrays
Three-spined stickleback
Frogfish
Eeltail catfish
Flying fish
Common cuttlefish
Ammonites
North Pacific giant octopus
Scorpions
Goliath bird-eating spider
Hermit crabs
White-clawed crayfish
Garden snail
Crown-of-thorns starfish
Purple sea urchin
Common jellyfish