[Dragaera] night vision

[Alain Feeny]

>>> Interesting point, though:  while Vlad always speaks of jhereg as
>>> scavengers, in Athyra we do see that Rocza has negative opinions  
>>> about
>>> *hunting*, and they do bring in apparently fresh game when Vlad is  
>>> injured.
>>>
>>> Go figure . . .
>>
>> So how does the *race* behave?   As predators or scavengers?
>
> Do the two have to be mutually exclusive? A number of earth predators
> will scavenge, if the opportunity presents itself, and many scavengers
> don't wait until their meal is completely dead to move in.
>
> Plus, as was pointed out while I was writing the above, there's also
> been some modification to the species in terms of increased
> intelligence and who knows what else. (Was the poison originally
> present, or is it an added design feature?) But whether the tweaking
> enhanced the predatory or scavenger behaviors, I don't think it's
> unreasonable to think that both could have easily existed in the
> unmodified jhereg.

Our fauna is filled with examples that are consistent with what we see  
here.  Take Komodo dragons as an example.  They have wideset eyes, no  
doubt to help the young ones survive predators (mostly their own kind)  
until adulthood, at which point they become the top predator in their  
ecosystem. They even hunt in a manner similar to venomous animals,  
relying on a single bite, then patiently waiting for the prey to  
weaken or die from the resulting infections. While they certainly  
hunt, they also scavenge a significant portion of their food.

Crododilians are another similar example. Anyone going to argue that  
because they have eyes on the side of their head that they aren't  
predators? Go walk up to a 20-foot Nile crocodile and you'll find out  
for yourself pretty quick ;)