animal defensive behavior
behavior used by a nonhuman animal to avoid being harmed by another. This might involve defensive aggression against a potential predator or against a member of its own species, from its own group or an outside group, or animal escape behavior to avoid the source of harm. It might also involve strategies to become inconspicuous, through camouflage or inactivity, or highly conspicuous, as in the noise that a rattlesnake makes to indicate potential danger if provoked or attacked.