Re: More on Gangs, packs, etc.

[Philidor11@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/16/99 2:34:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Z966341@wpo.cso.niu.edu writes:

<< And if so, would sauropod "herds" simply be loose
 congregations of herbivorous dinosaurs, finding safety in numbers
 until large enough that predators were no longer a threat?   >>

Given that herbivorous dinosaurs were intelligent enough to form herds and 
assuming that predators are more intelligent than prey (or so I've read), 
wouldn't the predators be smart enough to meet herding behavior by some type 
of co-operative approach of their own?  
I've read here about the distinction between gang and pack hunting, so I'm 
not sure how much co-operation is involved, and whether the animals would 
have remained together between hunts with some kind of elaborate social 
structure.  However, they would have had to remain in the same vicinity 
without harming each other and have made a certain number of decisions about 
targets to hunt as a group and have allowed for feeding the young.  Maybe 
it's just my knowledge of committees, which is a very derived concept, but 
co-operation seems to require leadership and enforcement.
How far away from the logically necessary have I gotten?
Also, I'm impressed by the fact that crocs carry their young in their mouths 
and that neighborhood flocks send out detachments to follow my cats around to 
sound alarms.  Seems like that has to be learned behavior rather than hard 
wiring, so I tend to believe that not highly intelligent animals can 
intentionally solve problems and pass the information along.  Wouldn't that 
be another advantage for a herd and pack/gang?