Module 14 - Mammals Flashcards
What do all mammals in South Africa have in common?
They all belong to the Subclass/Infraclass Placentals.
Name two odd-toed ungulates.
Plains Zebra, White rhino.
Name an even-toed ungulate that is also a ruminant.
Greater Kudu.
Name a near-ungulate.
African Elephant.
Name an odd-toed ungulate that is also a hingut fermenter.
White Rhino.
Why do animals eat dung and what is the correct technical term?
Coprophagy: Animals eats dung (waste matter), to gain more nutrients & water (especially in dry season) e. g. Zebra; or to get calcium, e. g. Leopard Tortoise.
Note: Faeces comes from an omnivore, scat comes from a carnivore and dung from a herbivore.
How does one tell the difference between Nyala, Bushbuck and Kudu?
- Horns: Kudu has large spiral horns, Nyala horns are smaller and with less turns, Bushbuck horns are much shorter and almost straight.
- Color: Kudu is greyish, Nyala brownish and Bushbuck reddish.
- Size*: Kudu is the largest (140 cm), followed by the Nyala (110 cm), Bushbuck is the smallest (80 cm)
Name the two suborders of bats.
Megachiroptera (fruit eating bats), Microchiroptera (insect eating bats)
What are carnassial teeth used for?
All carnivores have carnassial teeth, in order to tear and cut skin and flesh.
Mammal Characteristics
- Have mammary glands (to feed offspring with milk)
- Endothermic (‘warm blooded’)
- Covered with hair (at least at one state of development)
- 4 chambered heart
- External ear structure
- Have ossicles (3 bone structures) in the inner ear
How are mammals classified?
- Foot structure:
x) Plantigrade
x) Digitigrade
x) Unguligrade (True ungulates (odd- and even-toed), near-ungulates) - What they eat:
x) Herbivores (Grazer (bulk and selective), browser
x) Carnivore
x) Omnivore - Taxonomic hierarchy
- Pattern of reproduction:
x) Monotremes
x) Marsupials
x) Placentals
What is the difference between a Marsupial and a Placental?
Marsupials:
- Primitive Placenta
- Altricial young
- Brief gestation
- Abdominal pouch
- Mammary glands in pouch
Placentals:
- Advanced placenta
- longer gestation
- Precocial embryo
Explain herbivore digestive systems
Hindgut fermenters: - Have to eat large amounts of food (because the absorption of nutrients is ineffective) - Digest the food in stomach - Micro organisms break down the food further in the large intestine and the cecum - Can survive on poor quality of food but need huge amounts
Ruminants:
- Have a stomach with four chambers (Rumen, Reticulum, Omasum, Abomasum)
- Extract all available nutrients from food
- Need less time for eating
- Food swallowed quickly and goes into the Rumen
where fermentation takes place, then the food comes back into the mouth (mixed with enzymes) and goes straight into the 2nd chamber by passing the Rumen
Ungulate characteristics
1) stand on the ground with 4 feet to feed (do not use front feet)
2) Consume a lot of cellulose and have specialized digestive systems
3) Hindgut fermenters or Ruminants
Near-ungulate Characteristics
1) One pair of teats between their front legs
2) toenails rather than hooves
3) upper incisors are modified into tusks
4) walk on their whole foot
