From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpredationpre‧da‧tion /prɪˈdeɪʃən/ noun [uncountable] technical when an animal kills and eats another animal
Examples from the Corpus
predation• This odd reversal of polygyny has been attributed to a very high rate of ground predation whereby clutches are easily lost.• The abandonment of trees makes the species, especially the young, prone to ground predation.• Under natural conditions some bands die out due to severe drought, disease, or increased predation.• Below low water mark, predation by lobsters may be significant.• It is a reflex born of predation by voracious crabs that nip at the tender tubeworm plumes with their claws.• All these spikes evolved originally as a way of preventing predation by larger fish.• It would therefore appear that the ensuring of successful pollination must override the importance of losses due to seed predation.• The effects of this predation could be devastating. 