Animal Nutrition Module 1

Video 4

"Coprolite"

Video 3

"Discovering the Past through Dino Poop"

Video 1

"Evolution of Guts"

Video 5

"How Horses Took Over North America (Twice)"

Video 2

"What Caused the Cambrian Explosion?"

How far back do they earliest coprolites date?

Cambrian deposits in nevada and utah

Ediacarans, the first multicellular life forms were first discovered where?

Coast of Newfoundland

Back at the start of the Eocene, the world was in the clutches of what scientists describe as the Paleocene-Eocene ____________

Thermal Maximum

At the height of its diversity, the Equidae family included more than _____________ genera that roamed the northern hemisphere.

a dozen

How did Ediacarans obtain energy?

absorbed food from the water column and transmitted it to the rest of the organism

The story of horse evolution is one of constant _______________and _________________ in response to North Americas changing climate.

adaptation, radiation

What benefits did ruminants have over other organisms? How did this strategy allow them protection?

allows them to eat quickly and then move to a sheltered place to finish chewing

According to the documentary, the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and animals has developed more than once. Why is it hypothesized that this has happened?

appears when there is a source of nutrients difficult for an organism to exploit

5 million years ago Equus simplicidens crossed the Bering straight land bridge to spread into __________, _________________ and ___________________.

asia, europe, africa

What advantages did fish have over their predecessors?

backbones, powerful eyes, sophisticated gut (proper stomach)

Describe the unique adaptations related to hoof and leg development exhibited by Merychippus

bigger, long head, legs adapted to hard ground - tiptoe on one middle toe supported by ligaments, longer leg bones, fused frotn legs to hold more force

What are the living descendants of dinosaurs?

birds

How did Mammals survive the asteroid impact?

burying underground

What allowed man to develop a smaller gut?

change in diet. learned to get more meat and use tools to acquire it (predigesting food)

What insights into prehistoric human diets do coprolites found in Mexico provide?

contain maguey fibers, squash seeds, insect fragments, and pieces of snail shells

What allows us to get more energy out of food with less effort?

cooking

On the evolutionary tree, Tyrannosaurus rex lies between what two living species ("cousins")?

crocodiles and birds

Describe the habitat Eohippus (Hyracotherium) thrived in roughly 56 million years ago

cypress trees and humid broadleaf forests

Why is it hypothesized that Ediacarans disappeared?

devoured by new kinds of animals equipped with new kinds of organs and a new way of eating (guts)

How do Bacteria, the first life form on earth, break down organic material?

enzymes

Internal organs fossilize well allowing researchers to determine exactly what they ate. True or false?

false

Twenty million years ago in the Miocene epoch the earth began to cool. How did this change food sources for herbivore? (think biomes)

forests turned into grasslands

What are coprolites?

fossilized feces

What clues did coprolites provide in the island dwelling Moas?

fossilized vegetation shows they survived on herbs and small shrubs implying they are tree browsers

Why are coprolites so scarce?

fossils are preserved when buried rapidly and mineral agents. dung from herbivorous animals need an external source of mineral- bacteria feeding on dung.

What was the nutritional problem with grassland replacing forests? (inability to digest what?)

full of starchy cellulose

How did Ediacarans compete for food?

getting bigger (maximizing surface area)

Which organ grinds up (or houses) the gastroliths?

gizzard by contracting the food and stones acting as teeth

All horse adaptations were somehow related to the appearance of what type of habitat?

grasslands

Bacteria found refuge inside what organ of organisms?

guts

Each padded toe of Eohippus terminated with a ________________

hoof

How did horses change humans?

hunting, agriculture, war, transportation

As microvilli grow what happens to the surface area of the small intestine?

increases

Why might Dinosaurs seek rotten wood in their diet?

invertebrates that frequent wood

What is the "stay mechanism" an adaptation for?

lock legs in place to spend time on their feet

What are the methods Dr. Chin uses to determine whether or not a 'Rock" is actually fossilized poop?

look for dietary residue or burrows, cut thin sections and look through it (plant and animal cells, shells) chemical analysis, isotopic analysis

What is required to digest cellulose?

microbes. more than 200 different kinds

The Cambrian creatures had what advantage over the Ediacarans?

mobility allowed them to actively hunt

Why were dinosaurs not able to survive the asteroid that hit over 65 million years ago?

not enough food

375 million years ago one lineage of fish made a remarkable leap and discovered how to obtain resources where?

on land

What was the uniqueness of the new predators that Eohippus had to contend with?

pack-hunting

Equus, along with most of the other large mammals on the North American continent, went extinct roughly 8,000-10,000 years ago near the end of the _______________ epoch.

pleistocene

Do warm blooded animals have food pass through quickly or slowly? Fast digestions means fast or slow metabolism?

quickly, meaning fast metabolism

Does T rex food pass slowly or quickly through the digestive system?

rapidly

Why do scientists have two names (Eohippus and Hyracotherium) for the earliest known relative of the horse?

resembles rock hyrax

Perissodactyls include three families including Equidae. The other two families include ________________and ____________________.

rhinos, tapirs, horses

What group of organisms evolved to dominate the grasslands?

ruminants

Describe early Eohippus teeth - they were adapted to eat what?

short, low crowned teeth good for browsing on leaves in the dense forest

3 million years ago Equus simplicidens crossed into ______________ as part of the great american biotic interchange.

south america

What is cellulose converted into?

sugar and energy

What method of digestion did snakes evolve?

swallow prey whole (makes up 90% of body). hydrochloric acid and pepcid production increases

What parasitic organism was found in prehistoric sharks?

tapeworm eggs

What does the term "hypsonant" mean? What makes this type of tooth so special?

teeth erupt out of the gums as they wear down to reveal new chewing surface

How did the red worms (feeding on whale bone) derive their nutrients without a digestive system?

the worms dug into the whalebone. they are full of bacteria, and this allows bacteria to enter the roots and then digest the proteins and fat in the whalebone. Then the worms consume the bacteria

How does ability to change lengths in microvilli this benefit the snake?(think in terms of energy)

they are able to absorb more nutrients

Karen Chen at the University of Colorado, found what amazing discovery in coprolites? (What did she find besides bone fragments?)

they didnt avoid teeth to bone contact and munched on everything. these bones were rounded presence of fossilized muscle tissue

How are the microvilli in snake different from mammals?

they increase in length during feeding

Why might you disagree with the statement that fossils provide only evidence that something died?

trace fossils: footprints,

Dinosaurs possess digestive traits of both reptiles and mammals. True or False?

true

Mesohippus and Miohippus existed during the same epoch. True or False?

true

Researchers hypothesize that dinosaurs could fast for long periods between meals like crocodiles. True or False?

true

It is reasonable to assume that dinosaurs had a gizzard. Tue or false?

true because there were rocks in dinosaur fossils

How do birds break up their food with no teeth?

use gastroliths, small stones that they swallow with their food, lodging in their gizzard

What clues can coprolites provide (other than diet?)

what organisms lived with them, conditions they were preserved- perspective on environment

What are the consequences of the dinosaur' s unique digestive capabilities?

when asteroids hit, dinosaurs experienced a massive food shortage

What are some of the theories that evolved that allowed for the Cambrian explosion and the enhanced ability for organisms to extract nutrients from the surrounding environment? Which theory (according to the video) is most feasible?

During the Ediacaran period, before the Cambrian, the first shellless organisms developed on the sea floor. absorbed nutrients may have been able to move, with no skeleton. disappear at Cambrian explosion 1. Increasing oxygen levels: before, oxygen levels may have been to low for animals to exist. evidence is scarce. may link to snowball earth, a long period of glaciers. As they melted, the nutrients allowed for the growth of algae, who increase oxygen levels. however, ice age ended 90 million years before Cambrian 2. Increased mineral availability: from glacier erosion could have constructed shells. however, there are many materials used to make shells

Although, according to the video, early ancestors of equids evolved during the ________ epoch most would argue they were evolving during the previous epoch known as the Paleocene.

Eocene

Dinohippus is the most like candidate to be the forerunner of _______________the species of the modern horse.

Equus

What is the name of the only genus of Equidae that exists today?

Equus

Name a predator that evolved alongside Eohippus 56 million years ago

Mesonyx hoofed carnivore

Name the archeologist who discovered the first Eohippus (hyracotheriumor The "Dawn Horse") fossil in North America. Where and when was it found?

O.C. Marsh New Mexico 1876

Hoofed mammals with an odd number of toes are classified as what (order) ______________.

Perissodactyls

Dinohippus carried its weight on only_______ toe and are known as the first true_________.

1, horse

What are some of the hypotheses explaining the extinction of horses in North America?

1. end of last ice age -changes in habitat 2. increase bison population - decrease range 3. human entry - hunted

Dinohippus evolved approximately _______ million years ago.

10

About how long does it take to digest the food put into the machine (or into our digestive system?)

25 hours

What is the height of early Eohippus? The descendants of Eohippus grew to be nearly _____times its original size.

30

How long did Ediacarans dominate the seas?

30 million years

Equus simplicidens evolved ______million years ago.

4

In Asia, horses traversed the landscape of the Eurasian Steppes and roughly _______years ago, were domesticated by the ________ culture in Kazakhstan.

6000, Botai

University of Alabama Steven Secor studies the evolution of Burmese Pythons. How long did he determine it takes for a python to digest a rat?

7 days

How long does it take for grass to pass through the digestive system of a cow?

80 hours

Bacteria are no longer needed today in organisms with guts. True or False?

False

Ediacarans have many modern animal counterparts today that are similar to their appearance. True or false?

False

Ediacarans were definitely considered plants. True or false?

False

The earliest ancestors of animals had mouths and stomachs to assist in digestion. True or false?

False

The first guts looked NOTHING like those found in jellyfish today. True or False?

False (a sac)

Ediacarans lived a mile beneath the surface of water within the absence of light. True or False?

True

New digestive mechanisms took place during what is known as the Cambrian Explosion. True or False?

True

The portion of the machine (Cloaca) that breaks down food replicates the length of human intestines and is approximately 26 feet long. True or false?

True

It has been reported that constrictors can fast for years without eating. True or false?

True, usually weeks or months