Observations on foraging herons indicate that only a small number of prey organisms manage to escape after being seized by a heron. Those prey which do escape mostly belong to a few genera which have elaborate post—capture escape behavior or possess physical structures which interfere with swallowing by the heron and which tend to prolong the interval between capture and swallowing. Individuals of these genera escape significantly more frequently than prey lacking such behavior or structures.
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Recher et al. (1968) studied this question.