Stay-eat or run-away: Two alternative escape behaviors

Highlights: • Model the effect of energy management to agent behavior in group chase and escape. • Estimate the triggering conditions of stay still and fleeing immediately for prey during the handling time of predator. • Find the existence of the optimal velocity ratio for the survival of prey. -- Abstract: Pursuit-and-evasion behavior in groups of animals is a phenomenon that can be easily observed in nature. Immediate flight upon detection is a common but not exclusive response for prey with both stay-eat behavior and run-away behavior occur during the predation process. It remains unclear why these two contrasting survival tactics appear, what the triggering conditions are and what internal mechanisms are at play. Here we investigate the effect of energy level on the behavior of prey during predation. We find that (1) the optimal escape speed of prey is context-dependent rather than the fastest always producing the best chance of survival. (2) The stay-eat or run-away decision depends mainly on the maximum speed and the energy dissipation ratio of prey to predator. (3) Stay-eat behavior is more effective when the prey have a higher escape speed and a higher energy dissipation rate, where aggregation can induce this stay-eat behavior. The reported findings are not only of relevance when considering survival tactics in nature, but such an understanding is useful in the design of swarm robotic systems where energy conservation and task optimization could be incorporated into any escape and hunting strategies.