This week, researchers said they have discovered what appears to be a strange law of nature that is responsible for keeping big predator numbers low in huge spaces of the Earth and its oceans. According to the findings, published in the journal Science, even when there are plenty a lot of prey available in an area for larger creatures, including lions to eat, the number of lions in that area does not go up.

This strange pattern is as applicable and true for big animals as in the case of small sea creatures such as zooplankton, which consume phytoplankton.

The study suggested that when prey is in large number, there are not proportionally more predators. During the study, researchers analyzed data going back 50 years on plants and animals in 2,260 ecosystems in 1,512 different areas across the world, including grasslands, lakes, forests and oceans.

Predators are not increasing their number to match the present prey, and instead their population is getting limited by the rate at which prey reproduce.

Prey reproduced less in the crowded settings, as compared to the settings where there were less prey around. This finding suggested that competition for resources may be a function to limit prey offspring.

Study author Ian Hatton said so far all used to assume that when there is a lot more prey, correspondingly more predators are expected. Hatton added, "But as we looked at the numbers, we discovered instead, that in the lushest ecosystems, no matter where they are in the world, the ratio of predators to their prey is greatly reduced".