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