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Polyphagous
Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγεῖν (), meaning "to eat". Evolutionary history The evolution of feeding is varied with some feeding strategies evolving several times in independent lineages. In terrestrial vertebrates, the earliest forms were large amphibious piscivores 400 million years ago. While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new food types, other tetrapods (carnivory), and later, plants (herbivory). Carnivory was a natural transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods, requiring minimal adaptation (in contrast, a complex set of adaptations was necessary for feeding on highly fibrous plant materials). Evolutionary adaptations The specialization of organisms towards specific food sources is one of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feeding Behaviours Circular Dendrogram
Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food. In biology, this is typically done to provide a heterotrophic organism with food energy, energy and nutrients and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive – carnivores eat other animals, herbivores eat plants, omnivores consume a mixture of both plant and animal matter, and detritivores eat detritus. Fungi digest organic matter outside their bodies as opposed to animals that digest their food inside their bodies. For humans, eating is more complex, but is typically an Activities of daily living, activity of daily living. Physicians and dieticians consider a healthful diet essential for maintaining peak physical condition. Some individuals may limit their amount of nutritional intake. This may be a result of a lifestyle choice: as part of a Dieting, diet or as religious fasting. Limited consumption may be due to hunger or famine. Overconsumption of calories may lead to obesity and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vampire Bat
Vampire bats, members of the subfamily Desmodontinae, are Phyllostomidae, leaf-nosed bats currently found in Central and South America. Their food source is the blood of other animals, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three extant bat species feed solely on blood: the common vampire bat (''Desmodus rotundus''), the hairy-legged vampire bat (''Diphylla ecaudata''), and the white-winged vampire bat (''Diaemus youngi''). Two extinct species of the genus ''Desmodus'' have been found in North America. Taxonomy Due to differences among the three species, each has been placed within a different genus, each consisting of one extant species. In the older literature, these three genera were placed within a Family (biology), family of their own, Desmodontidae, but Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists have now grouped them as a subfamily, Desmodontinae, in the New World leaf-nosed bat family, Phyllostomidae. The three known species of vampire bats all seem more similar to one another than to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claw
A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or Arthropod leg, tarsus for gripping a surface as they walk. The pincers of crabs, lobsters and scorpions, more formally known as their chelae, are sometimes called claws. A true claw is made of a hard protein called keratin. Claws are used to catch and hold prey in carnivorous mammals such as cats and dogs, but may also be used for such purposes as digging, climbing trees, self-defense and Personal grooming, grooming, in those and other species. Similar appendages that are flat and do not come to a sharp point are called nail (anatomy), nails instead. Claw-like projections that do not form at the end of digits but spring from other parts of the foot are properly named Spur (zoology), spurs. Tetrapods In tetrapods, claws are made of keratin and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, but also can be found in Europe and the Americas. They can be found in deep forests near calm ponds and small rivers. The family contains 118 species and is divided into three subfamilies and 19 genera. All kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with only small differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. While kingfishers are usually thought to live near rivers and eat fish, many species live away from water and eat small invertebrates. Like other members of their order, they nest in cavit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parrot
Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical regions. The four families are the Psittaculidae (Old World parrots), Psittacidae (African and New World parrots), Cacatuidae (cockatoos), and Strigopidae (New Zealand parrots). One-third of all parrot species are threatened by extinction, with a higher aggregate extinction risk (Red List Index, IUCN Red List Index) than any other comparable bird group. Parrots have a generally pantropical distribution with several species inhabiting temperateness, temperate regions as well. The greatest biodiversity, diversity of parrots is in South America and Australasia. Parrotsalong with Corvidae, ravens, crows, jays, and magpiesare among the most #Intelligence and learning, intelligent birds, and the abil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Central America, Central and South America. As of 2024, 21 hummingbird species are listed as Endangered species, endangered or critically endangered, with numerous species declining in population. Hummingbirds have varied specialized characteristics to enable rapid, maneuverable flight: exceptional metabolism, metabolic capacity, adaptations to high altitude, sensitive visual and communication abilities, and long-distance migration in some species. Among all birds, male hummingbirds have the widest diversity of plumage color, particularly in blues, greens, and purples. Hummingbirds are the smallest mature birds, measuring in length. The smallest is the bee hummingbird, which weighs less than , and the largest is the giant hummingbird, weig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelican
Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before swallowing. They have predominantly pale plumage, except for the Brown pelican, brown and Peruvian pelicans. The bills, pouches, and bare facial skin of all pelicans become brightly coloured before the breeding season. The eight living pelican species have a patchy, seasonally-dependent yet global distribution, ranging latitude, latitudinally from the tropics to the temperate zone. Pelicans are absent from interior Amazon Rainforest, Amazonian South America, from polar regions and the open ocean; at least one species is known to migrate to the inland desert of Australia's Red Centre, after heavy rains create temporary lakes. White pelicans are also observed at the American state of Utah's Great Salt Lake, for example, some 600 miles (965&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme polar regions. Most species live in forests or woodland habitats, although a few species are known that live in treeless areas, such as rocky hillsides and deserts, and the Gila woodpecker specializes in exploiting cacti. Members of this family are chiefly known for their characteristic behaviour. They mostly forage for insect prey on the trunks and branches of trees, and often communicate by drumming with their beaks, producing a reverberatory sound that can be heard at some distance. Some species vary their diet with fruits, birds' eggs, small animals, tree sap, human scraps, and carrion. They usually nest and roost in holes that they excavate in tree trunks, and their abandoned holes are of importance to other cavity-nesting birds. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawk
Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This subfamily are mainly woodland birds with short broad wings, long tails, and high visual acuity. They hunt by dashing suddenly from a concealed perch. In America, members of the '' Buteo'' group are also called hawks, though birds of this group are called buzzards in other parts of the world. Generally, buteos have broad wings and sturdy builds. They are relatively larger-winged and shorter-tailed than accipiters, and fly further distances in open areas. Buteos descend or pounce on their prey rather than engaging in fast, horizontal pursuit. The terms ''accipitrine hawk'' and ''buteonine hawk'' are used to distinguish between the types in regions where ''hawk'' applies to both. The term ''"true hawk"'' is sometimes used for the accipitrin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and carrying objects, killing prey, or fighting), preening, courtship, and feeding young. The terms ''beak'' and '' rostrum'' are also used to refer to a similar mouth part in some ornithischians, pterosaurs, cetaceans, dicynodonts, rhynchosaurs, anuran tadpoles, monotremes (i.e. echidnas and platypuses, which have a bill-like structure), sirens, pufferfish, billfishes, and cephalopods. Although beaks vary significantly in size, shape, color and texture, they share a similar underlying structure. Two bony projections–the upper and lower mandibles–are covered with a thin keratinized layer of epidermis known as the rhamphotheca. In most species, two holes called ''nares'' lead to the respiratory system. Etymology Although the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal (phylogenetics), basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fish, the latter including all extant taxon, living cartilaginous fish, cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as the extinct placoderms and acanthodians. In a break to the long tradition of grouping all fish into a single Class (biology), class (Pisces), modern phylogenetics views fish as a paraphyletic group. Most fish are ectotherm, cold-blooded, their body temperature varying with the surrounding water, though some large nekton, active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core temperature. Many fish can communication in aquatic animals#Acoustic, communicate acoustically with each other, such as during courtship displays. The stud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
