Food Habits Flashcards
What are animals that eat a variety of different foods or food species called? What is another name for them?
Polyphages. They are generalists.
What are animals that eat only one kind of food or food species called? What is another name for them?
Monophages. They are specialists.
What are animals that eat only one category of food all of its adult life called?
Obligate
What are animals that may change the category of food eaten though seasons of the year or during period of food scarcity called?
Facultative
What defines a carnivore?
They eat all animal products, not just muscle meat
What do predators do? Give an example of one.
catch live prey. coyote
What do scavengers do? Give an example of one
find dead prey. turkey vulture
What do planktonivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat plankton. carribean flamingo
What do spongivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat sponges. green sea turtle
What do crustacivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat shrimps and crabs. oyster catcher
What do insectivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat insects. tree swallow
How do insectivores deal with the exoskeletons?
some egest exoskeltons, some remove part of the exoskeleton and some have chitinase to digest it
What do myrmecophages eat? Give an example of one.
eat ants and termites. aardvark
What do Mulluscivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat snails, clams, mussels, oysters, squid and slugs. snail kite
What do piscivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat fish. common loon
True or false - the fat content of a fish does not change seasonally
false. it does.
What do sanquivores eat? Give an example of one.
Eat blood. vampire bat
What do carnivores eat?
eat reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds.
What do omnivores eat?
eat a wide variety of feed stuffs, both animals and plant
Are omnivores seasonal consumers?
Yes
What do herbivores eat?
eat ALL plant products (ex. leaves, stems, roots, fruit, nectar, bark) and ALL plant groups.
What are monocotyledons? Give examples of a few
grasses, wheat, rice, only have one leaf
What are dicotyedons? Give examples of a couple
have two leaves, shrubs, trees
What do grazers eat? Give three examples of grazers.
eat mainly grass and some forbs. cattle, buffalo, Canada goose
What are forbs?
non-woody plants at ground level
What do browsers eat? Give three examples of browsers
eat leaves, buds, shoot, twigs. porcupine, deer, elephant
What do intermediate animals eat? Give two examples of intermediates.
both graze and browse. goats and caribou
What is Hoffman’s equivalent to grazers? What do they do?
Grass/Roughage feeders. Eat grass and more fibrous plant material
What is Hoffman’s equivalent to intermediates? What do they do?
Intermediates. both graze and browse.
What is Hoffman’s equivalent to browsers? What do they do?
Concentrate Selectors. Select easily digestible, highly nutritious and low fibre foods such as buds and young leaves
What do folivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat leaves. sloths
What do mycophages eat? Give an example of one.
eat fungi. long-nosed potoroo
What do lichenophages eat? Give an example of one.
eat lichens. caribou
What do frugivores eat?
eat succulent or dry fruit.
What defines succulent fruit? Give an example of an animal that eats succulent fruit.
high in sugar, vit C and low in Ca. black bear
What defines dry fruit? Give an example of an animal that eat dry fruit.
nuts and is high in fat. eastern grey squirrel
What do granivores eat? Give an example of one.
Eat seed, grains. deer mouse
What do nectarivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat nectar. ruby-throated hummingbird
What do nectarivores feed their young?
insects
What do pollenophages eat? Give an example of one.
eat pollen. some tropical bats
What nutrient is pollen rich in?
protein
What do nectarivores and pollenophage obligates eat? Give an example of one.
ONLY nectar and pollen and does not eat insects! Honey possum
What do gumnivores eat? Give an example of one.
eat gums and exudates. marmosets
When does a diurnal animal eat? What is the disadvantage to being a diurnal eater?
during the day.
can be seen by predators
When does a nocturnal animal eat? How have animals adapted to eating at this time? What is the advantage to being a nocturnal eater?
during the night
enhanced sight and hearing
cannot easily be seen by predators and it’s cool in the deserts
When do crepuscular animals eat? What animals usually eat at this time?
At dawn and dusk, cool times in hot climates.
grazers and browsers
What 4 mammalian orders eat ONLY animal material?
Monotremata (echidnas and platypus), tubulidentata (aardvark), pholidota (pangolins), macroscelidea (elephant shrew)
What 5 mammalian orders eat ONLY plant material?
lagomorphia (rabbits, hares), perissodactyla (horses, rhinos, tapirs), proboscidea (elephants), sirenia (manatees, dugongs), hyracoidea (hyraxes)
What type of carnivores are the coyote and wolf?
facultative carnivores
What type of omnivore is the arctic fox?
opportunistic omnivore
What kind of feeders are the red and grey fox?
opportunistic feeders as they eat a substantial amount of plant material
What type of carnivore are polar bears? How do they get Vitamin A?
obligate carnivores. have pre-formed vitamin A
What kind of feeder is the black bear?
frugivore
What type of feeder is the grizzly bear?
omnivore, mostly fish
What type of feeder is a red panda?
herbivore, most bamboo shoots and other veg
What is the food chain?
Plants eaten by herbivores & omnivores which are eaten by omnivores & carnivores which are eaten by carnivores
What are 3 ways plants prevent predetation?
spines, thorns and toxins
What two colours of flowers provide easily accessible nectar?
white and yellow
What colours of flowers have concealed nectar?
red, blue and purple
Fleshy fruits encourages?
seed dispersal
What helps herbivores escape predators?
Speed and agility
How do herbivores distract predators?
Stay in large groups
How do herbivores avoid detection?
camouflage, burrowing, crepuscular and nocturnal feeding
How do herbivores deter predators?
toxins or false-toxin (colour warning)
What do carnivores have to defend themselves and catch prey?
claws, talons, beaks, horns, teeth and a/or a poisonous bite/sting
What are the trophic feeding levels?
- Producers
- Primary Consumers
- Secondary Consumers
- Tertiary Consumers
What do green plants include and not include?
Include: algae, mosses, bushes, lichens, trees
Does not include: fungi
What are green plants classified as?
autotrophs
What do autotrophs contain?
clorophyll
What defines autotrophs?
Essentially make their own food
What are the primary consumers?
herbivores
What is the name of animals that need to eat food?
heterotrophs
How much of food energy is actually stored in animal tissues?
5-20%
What are the secondary consumers?
omnivores and carnivores that eat herbivores
What are the tertiary consumers?
omnivores and carnivores that eat carnivores
What are the 6 methods of studying food habits?
Direct observation, utilization techniques, digesta sampling, fecal analysis, isotope studies, and adipose tissue composition
What is the advantage of direct observation?
inexpensive equipment needed
What are the disadvantages of direct observation?
difficult in crepuscular, nocturnal and fossorial (burrowing) species
difficult in aquatic environments
difficult in areas of heavy vegetation
difficult in very open areas to watch unobserved
doesn’t indicate what the animal eats when not observed
time consuming
Give an example of why it is difficult to do direct observation?
Chips and gorillas, the observer needs to be within a few feet to see which part of the food items are consumed
What are three utilization techniques?
enclosure, exclosure and cafeteria
How does an enclosure system work?
survey vegetation, let animals in for a set time, re-survey after animals have left
What is the advantage to enclosure, exclosure and cafeteria systems?
can estimate which plant species and parts have been eaten
What is the disadvantage to enclosure and exclosure systems?
other animals may have been in the enclosure or other animals may have been eating inside and outside the exclosure
What are the disadvantages to cafeteria systems?
animals are captive and cannot range freely and the plants are usually cut and animals may eat different plant parts
How does an exclosure system work?
survey vegetation both inside and outside the exclosure area and compare
How does a cafeteria system work?
range of plant material offered to captive animals, determine amount of each type of plant material offered and amount left after feeding
What are the 2 digesta sampling techniques?
in vivo and post mortem
How does the in vivo technique work?
surgically create and esophageal or rumen fistula and collect food samples from there then sort, identify anf weigh the food samples
What is the advantage to digesta sampling techniques?
more accurate than utilization techniques and in post mortem, no animals are specifically killed for the purpose of the study
What are the disadvantages to in vivo technique?
work with captive, tame animals
surgical procedures
What is another way of doing the in vivo technique?
Using pellets from birds of prey
What is the disadvantage to using pellets?
some food component are poorly represented or absent
What is the disadvantage to using the post mortem technique?
time of last meal is unknown, degree of digestion is unknown, some easily digested food components are poorly represented or absent
How does the post mortem technique work?
collect GIT from hunters and road kills, sort, identify stomach contents
What are the advantages to using fecal analysis?
no animals killed
may provide info not provided by utilization techniques
What are the disadvantages to using fecal analysis?
highly digested food components under-represented or absent in feces
may not know which individual animal (M, F, species) produced the feces
parasites may be species specific
have to observe defecation, dunging sites and territorial markers
What are the 2 techniques used for isotope studies?
Stable isotopes and radioisotopes
Describe stable isotope studies.
Isotopes of an element have different numbers of neutrons. If plants have different 13C/12C ratios, then animal eating the plants will reflect this in their body tissues. The analysis of bones, tendons, collagen will provide info on the prey animals diet.
True or false - Fat has a higher turnover and will give a more immediate response to diet than bones, tendons and collagen
true
Fat stored as adipose tissue reflects fats consumed by the animal. This is true excepts for in what types of animals? Why?
Ruminants and foregut ferementers. Microbes in the reticulo-rumen and the foregut produce unusual FAs that are not produced by invertebrates.
What kind of fats are located around internal organs?
saturated fats
What kind of fats are located in the lower part of the leg and the foot? Why?
PUFAs and less saturated because they need to remain flexible
Why do hibernating animals need unsaturated fats throughout the body?
body temp may drop in temperature close to 2-3 degrees Celsius
true or false - FAs in plankton change with temperature
true
What type of FAs are located in plankton in low temperatures?
unsaturated
True or false - researchers generally use more than one method to study food habits
true
What is the beak/bill in birds used for?
cutting, tearing, crushing, filter-feeding
What replaces teeth in birds?
The gizzard
What replaces the stomach or abomasum in birds?
Crop (storage), proventriculus (acid digestion), gizzard (trituration)
What type of feeders are long-tailed weasels, the lesser weasel, black-footed ferret, mink, badger, river otter and sea otters?
carnivores
What type of feeders are martens, fishers and wolverines?
carnivores
What type of feeders are striped skunk and the western spotted skunk?
omnivores
What type of feeder is the common palm civet?
omnivore eat rats, insects and coffee berries, and mangos
What type of feeder is the fossa?
carnivore
What type of carnivore is the brown hyena?
scavenging carnivore
What type of feeder is the striped hyena?
omnivore
What type of feeder is the spotted hyena?
carnivore eating only vertebrate prey
What type of feeder is the aarwolf?
carnivore eating only ants and termites
What type of carnivores are the cougar, lynx and bobcat?
obligate carnivores
What type of feeder is the solenodontidae?
omnivore
What type of feeder is the tenrecs?
carnivore
What type of feeders are golden moles?
carnivores
What type of feeders are hedgehogs and moonrats
omnivores
What type of feeders are soricidae and talpidae?
omnivores
