Feeding Frenzy

In ecology, a feeding frenzy is a situation where oversaturation of a supply of food leads to rapid feeding by predatory animals. For example, a large school of fish can cause nearby sharks to enter a feeding frenzy. This can cause the sharks to go wild, biting anything that moves, including each other or anything else within biting range. This term is most often used when referring to sharks or piranhas, due to these being some of the most feared predators. "Violent feeding by many animals: an intense violent period of eating that occurs when a large number of animals of the same or related species such as sharks or piranhas converge on a food source." "Animals from wolves to birds to turtles have been known to go wild for some food item and compete furiously for it." "A shark feeding frenzy occurs when a number of sharks fight for the same prey. Sharks are usually solitary diners, and a feeding frenzy indicates why that might be. To an observer, it looks like the sharks lose their mind biting at anything that's in their way in an uncontrollable rage. They thrash around, their snouts elevating and their backs arching, all signs that indicate an impending attack. Some accounts tell of sharks eating each other and of sharks continuing to feed even after they've been disemboweled by other sharks."

Famous quotes containing the words feeding and/or frenzy:

    Injections ... are the best thing ever invented for feeding doctors.
    —Gabriel García Márquez (b. 1928)

    Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongs to us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.
    —Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)