watching the incredible, wonderful: Mammals: Plant Predators, I see so much intelligence, from the way plants reproduce to the way herds of wildebeests protect themselves.
sometimes, the stratagem at work is not readily apparent. for example, the males in a topi herd will tire themselves out competing for females. exhausted, the losing, peripheral males then become easy targets for hyenas.
at face value, the wildebeests appear to have a more efficient set-up by not competing internally and thus exposing more of themselves to risk. but the topi are ensuring that each future generation is stronger by editing out their weaker genetic code.
then again, the topi may be preparing for the wrong test. so what if future generations of topi are great at locking horns? their biggest threat is external.