Feeding Strategies Acquiring Nutrients & Energy
Feeding Strategies Objectives
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Describe different feeding strategies and the structures animals possess to make these strategies possible.
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Explain what an herbivore is, including types of herbivory, feeding structures used, and reliance on producers.
Animals utilize a variety of feeding strategies to obtain sufficient energy and nutrients.
We’ll start with a review of general functional groups, including fixing a few errors.
Now, we’ll relate the different functional groups to vertebrate jaws.
Compare the jaws and teeth of these three dinosaur replicas. Which dinosaur was an herbivore?
Herbivores
Herbivory is consumption of producers, typically plants or algae. There are many specific types of herbivores, including:
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Grazers: Eat a variety of plant leaves, like grasses, that are close to the ground
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Browsers: Eat a variety of plant parts, including leaves, branches, and fruits
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Algivores: eat algae
The majority of large terrestrial herbivores are ungulates.
Match these tracks to the correct ungulate.
Zebra
Giraffe (and Mark)
In these videos from a safari park, try to identify different families of ungulates.
Many ungulates have antlers or horns. Find out the difference in this video.
Does this elk have antlers or horns?
Elephants are herbivores classified in Order Proboscidea.
Most of the proboscids, including mammoths and mastodons are extinct.
Guinea pigs are rodent herbivore grazers.
Similar to other herbivores, guinea pigs spend much of their waking hours eating enough plant material to maintain their metabolism.
Herbivores like guinea pigs or deer are often seen as “defenseless” prey. The next section explores some of the ways animals defend themselves.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
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describe different feeding strategies and the structures animals possess to make these strategies possible?
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explain what an herbivore is, including types of herbivory, feeding structures used, and reliance on producers?
Go back to the Food Webs Page
Go forward to the Animal Defenses Page
Nutrients Lecture Guide Contents
The material from this guide and corresponding lecture is assessed on the weekly quiz.
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Module 5
This Guide
Nutrients
