Neurocircuitry of Predatory Hunting

• Published in: Neuroscience bulletin Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 817 - 831
• Main Authors: Zhao, Zheng-Dong, Zhang, Li, Xiang, Xinkuan, Kim, Daesoo, Li, Haohong, Cao, Peng, Shen, Wei L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.05.2023; Springer
• Subjects: Analysis; Anatomy; Anesthesiology; Animal behavior; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Human Physiology; Hunting; Motivation; Neural circuitry; Neurology; Neurons - physiology; Neurosciences; Pain Medicine; Predatory Behavior - physiology; Review; Wildlife conservation; Zebrafish; Predatory hunting; Neurocircuits; Appetitive motivation; Sensorimotor transformation; Sensory processing; Sequential encoding
• ISSN: 1673-7067; 1995-8218; 1995-8218
• DOI: 10.1007/s12264-022-01018-1

Predatory hunting is an important type of innate behavior evolutionarily conserved across the animal kingdom. It is typically composed of a set of sequential actions, including prey search, pursuit, attack, and consumption. This behavior is subject to control by the nervous system. Early studies used toads as a model to probe the neuroethology of hunting, which led to the proposal of a sensory-triggered release mechanism for hunting actions. More recent studies have used genetically-trackable zebrafish and rodents and have made breakthrough discoveries in the neuroethology and neurocircuits underlying this behavior. Here, we review the sophisticated neurocircuitry involved in hunting and summarize the detailed mechanism for the circuitry to encode various aspects of hunting neuroethology, including sensory processing, sensorimotor transformation, motivation, and sequential encoding of hunting actions. We also discuss the overlapping brain circuits for hunting and feeding and point out the limitations of current studies. We propose that hunting is an ideal behavioral paradigm in which to study the neuroethology of motivated behaviors, which may shed new light on epidemic disorders, including binge-eating, obesity, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.