glumshoe:

Speaking of prey drive, I saw some interesting experiments done by a guy who worked at a big cat rescue center. I don’t know if they were conducted scientifically, but even anecdotally they were very interesting.

He found that even the friendliest, healthiest, most socialized big cats would revert to ambush behaviors when their keepers were sitting on the ground with their backs to the cats. The lions, tigers, and leopards could be approached confidently from the front just fine, and would even be friendly, but ‘vulnerable and unaware’ positions triggered opportunist hunting instincts. None of the keepers were actually within reach, of course, so they didn’t find out if the pouncing instincts extended to killing and eating them, but all the cats responded with a prey drive.

Except the cheetahs. Cheetahs, being pursuit hunters rather than solitary ambush predators, did not react to the sight of defenseless human keepers on the ground at all – except to come over and nuzzle up against them affectionately. Some even flopped over beside them, apparently agreeing that it was nap time.

That’s the kind of variation and complexity in predator instincts I am talking about when I complain about animals and monsters in movies going after any and every prey they lay eyes on. Even when real animals chase prey out of instinct rather than hunger or defense, it’s not this mindless Destroy Everything rage – it reflects the evolution of their predation habits and the behavior of their natural prey. I would love to see more monster movies where there’s actual thoughtful world-building in the predatory behaviors beyond ‘big scary gnash teeth crash through wall run’.