Feeding frenzy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Feeding frenzy is an ecological term used to describe a situation where oversaturation of a supply of food leads to rapid feeding by predatory animals. For example, a large school of fish can cause nearby sharks to enter a feeding frenzy. This can cause the sharks to go wild, biting anything that moves, including each other or anything else within biting range. This term is most often used when refering to sharks or pirhanas, due to these being some of the most feared predators.
Feeding frenzy is also a metaphor often used in a non-biological sense to describe excited involvement by a group over some focal point of attention. An example would be intense and sometimes excessive media coverage of a story of great interest to the public, like the O. J. Simpson trial in the U.S. The media definition was popularized by Larry Sabato, through his book, Feeding Frenzy. Another example would be shoppers frantically looking for bargains during a sale.
