|
Molluscivore
A molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specialises in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods and cephalopods. Known molluscivores include numerous predatory (and often cannibalistic) molluscs, (e.g.octopuses, murexes, decollate snails and oyster drills), arthropods such as crabs and firefly larvae, and, vertebrates such as fish, birds and mammals. Molluscivory is performed in a variety ways with some animals highly adapted to this method of feeding behaviour. A similar behaviour, durophagy, describes the feeding of animals that consume hard-shelled or exoskeleton bearing organisms, such as corals, shelled molluscs, or crabs. Description Molluscivory can be performed in several ways: *In some cases, the mollusc prey are simply swallowed entire, including the shell, whereupon the prey is killed through suffocation and or exposure to digestive enzymes. Only cannibalistic sea slugs, snail-eating cone shells of the taxon Coninae, and some sea anemone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snail Kite
The snail kite (''Rostrhamus sociabilis'') is a bird of prey within the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures. Its relative, the slender-billed kite, is now again placed in ''Helicolestes'', making the genus ''Rostrhamus'' monotypic. Usually, it is placed in the milvine kites, but the validity of that grouping is under investigation. Description Snail kites are long with a wingspan. They weigh from . There is very limited sexual dimorphism, with the female averaging only 3% larger than the male. They have long, broad, and rounded wings, which measure each. Its tail is long, at , with a white rump and undertail coverts. The dark, deeply hooked beak, measuring is an adaptation to its diet. The tarsus is relatively long as well, measuring . The adult male has dark blue-gray plumage with darker flight feathers. The legs and cere are red. The adult female has dark brown upperparts and heavily streaked pale underparts. She has a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durophagy
Durophagy is the eating behavior of animals that consume hard-shelled or exoskeleton bearing organisms, such as corals, shelled mollusks, or crabs. It is mostly used to describe fish, but is also used when describing reptiles, including fossil turtles, placodonts and invertebrates, as well as "bone-crushing" mammalian carnivores such as hyenas. Durophagy requires special adaptions, such as blunt, strong teeth and a heavy jaw. Bite force is necessary to overcome the physical constraints of consuming more durable prey and gain a competitive advantage over other organisms by gaining access to more diverse or exclusive food resources earlier in life. Those with greater bite forces require less time to consume certain prey items as a greater bite force can increase the net rate of energy intake when foraging and enhance fitness in durophagous species. In the order Carnivora there are two dietary categories of durophagy; bonecrackers and bamboo eaters. Bonecrackers are exemplified by hy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carnivore
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other soft tissues) whether through hunting or scavenging. Nomenclature Mammal order The technical term for mammals in the order Carnivora is ''carnivoran'', and they are so-named because most member species in the group have a carnivorous diet, but the similarity of the name of the order and the name of the diet causes confusion. Many but not all carnivorans are meat eaters; a few, such as the large and small cats (felidae) are ''obligate'' carnivores (see below). Other classes of carnivore are highly variable. The Ursids, for example: While the Arctic polar bear eats meat almost exclusively (more than 90% of its diet is meat), almost all other bear species are omnivorous, and one species, the giant panda, is nearly exclusively herbivorou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exoskeleton
An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as " shells". Examples of exoskeletons within animals include the arthropod exoskeleton shared by chelicerates, myriapods, crustaceans, and insects, as well as the shell of certain sponges and the mollusc shell shared by snails, clams, tusk shells, chitons and nautilus. Some animals, such as the turtle, have both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. Role Exoskeletons contain rigid and resistant components that fulfill a set of functional roles in many animals including protection, excretion, sensing, support, feeding and acting as a barrier against desiccation in terrestrial organisms. Exoskeletons have a role in defense from pests and predators, support and in providing an attachment framewo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lampyris Noctiluca (larva Eating)
''Lampyris'' is a genus of beetles in the Lampyridae. In most of western Eurasia, they are the predominant members of this family and includes the European common glow-worm, which is the type species. They produce a continuous glow;Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Lloyd, James E. & Hillis, David M. (2007): Phylogeny of North American fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(1): 33-49. PDF fulltext the larvae and larviform females are among those organisms commonly called "glowworms". This genus is rather close to '' Pleotomus'' and its relatives. These were formerly separated as tribe Pleotomini, but appear to be a specialized offshoot of the Lampyrini. Species ''BioLib'' includes the following species: * '' Lampyris algerica'' Ancey, 1869 * '' Lampyris ambigena'' Jacquelin du Val, 1860 * '' Lampyris angustula'' Fairmaire, 1895 * '' Lampyris brutia'' Costa, 1882 * '' Lampyris fuscata'' Geisthardt, 1987 * '' Lamp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Otter
The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals. Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter's primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur, the densest in the animal kingdom. Although it can walk on land, the sea otter is capable of living exclusively in the ocean. The sea otter inhabits nearshore environments, where it dives to the sea floor to forage. It preys mostly on marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, various mollusks and crustaceans, and some species of fish. Its foraging and eating habits are noteworthy in several respects. Its use of rocks to dislodge prey and to open shells makes it one of the few mammal species to use tools. In most of its range, it is a keystone species, controlling sea urchin populations which would otherwis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gulls
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari (bird), Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and Skimmer (bird), skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus ''Larus'', but that arrangement is now considered polyphyly, polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for gulls is mews, which is cognate with German ''Möwe'', Danish ''måge'', Swedish ''mås'', Dutch ''meeuw'', Norwegian ''måke''/''måse'' and French ''mouette'', and can still be found in certain regional dialects. Gulls are typically medium to large in size, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls; stout, longish bills; and webbed feet. Most gulls are ground-nesting carnivores which take live food or scavenge opportunistically, particularly the ''Larus'' spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Thrush
The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive song, which has repeated musical phrases, has frequently been referred to in poetry. The song thrush breeds in forests, gardens and parks, and is partially migratory with many birds wintering in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East; it has also been introduced into New Zealand and Australia. Although it is not threatened globally, there have been serious population declines in parts of Europe, possibly due to changes in farming practices. The song thrush builds a neat mud-lined cup nest in a bush or tree and lays four to five dark-spotted blue eggs. It is omnivorous and has the habit of using a favourite stone as an " anvil" on which to break open the shells of snails. Like other perching birds (passerines), it is affected by external and internal para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oystercatchers
The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The exceptions to this are the Eurasian oystercatcher, the South Island oystercatcher, and the Magellanic oystercatcher, which also breed inland, far inland in some cases. In the past there has been a great deal of confusion as to the species limits, with discrete populations of all black oystercatchers being afforded specific status but pied oystercatchers being considered one single species.Hockey, P (1996). "Family Haematopodidae (Oystercatchers)". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). '' Handbook of the Birds of the World''. Volume 3: ''Hoatzin to Auks''. Lynx Edicions. . Taxonomy The genus ''Haematopus'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placodont
Placodonts ("Tablet teeth") are an extinct order of marine reptiles that lived during the Triassic period, becoming extinct at the end of the period. They were part of Sauropterygia, the group that includes plesiosaurs. Placodonts were generally between in length, with some of the largest measuring long. The first specimen was discovered in 1830. They have been found throughout central Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and China. Palaeobiology The earliest forms, like ''Placodus'', which lived in the early to middle Triassic, resembled barrel-bodied lizards superficially similar to the marine iguana of today, but larger. In contrast to the marine iguana, which feeds on algae, the placodonts ate molluscs and so their teeth were flat and tough to crush shells. In the earliest periods, their size was probably enough to keep away the top sea predators of the time: the sharks. However, as time passed, other kinds of carnivorous reptiles began to colonize the seas, such as ich ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosasaur
Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ' meaning 'lizard') comprise a group of extinct, large marine reptiles from the Late Cretaceous. Their first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764. They belong to the order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes. Mosasaurs probably evolved from an extinct group of aquatic lizards known as aigialosaurs in the Earliest Late Cretaceous with 42 described genera. During the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period ( Turonian– Maastrichtian ages), with the extinction of the ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs, mosasaurs became the dominant marine predators. They themselves became extinct as a result of the K-Pg event at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. Description Mosasaurs breathed air, were powerful swimmers, and were well-adapted to living in the warm, shallow inland seas prevalent during the Late Cretaceous period. Mosasaurs w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oyster Cracker (fish)
The oyster toadfish, ''Opsanus tau'', also known as the oyster toad, ugly toad, oyster cracker, oyster catcher, and bar dog, is a Northeast Atlantic species of fish of the family Batrachoididae. The maximum length of this toadfish is , but they infrequently surpass . The world record size for this species is 19.2 inches which is 48.76 cm. They are generally yellowish with a pattern of brown oblique bars. The species can live in poor conditions and needs little food to live. It is an omnivore. Common prey include crustaceans, mollusks, amphipods, squid, and other smaller fish. Oyster toadfish rely upon camouflage to catch their food; they lie motionless waiting for prey to pass close by, then attack by surprise. They can be found near the shore from Maine to Florida. The fish has a distinctive "foghorn" sound used by males to attract females in the mating season, which is April–October. The sound-producing (sonic) muscles attached to its swimbladders are the fastest known vert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Molluscivore")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Song Thrush")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Oystercatchers")
