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Catlike sabre-toothed predators evolved in three distinct lineages of mammals – carnivorans like the sabre-toothed cats, and nimravids ("false" sabre-tooths), the sparassodont family Thylacosmilidae ("marsupial" sabre-tooths), the gorgonopsids and the creodonts also developed long canine teeth, but with no other particular physical similarities.
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 ...
The tetrapods, including all large- and medium-sized land animals, have been among the best understood animals since earliest times. By Aristotle's time, the basic division between mammals, birds and egg-laying tetrapods (the "herptiles") was well known, and the inclusion of the legless snakes into this group was likewise recognized. [28]
In the Mesozoic, between 200 and 150 million years ago, insects' feeding patterns started to diversify. [7] The evolution of plant defenses to reduce cost and increase resistance to herbivores is a crucial component of the Optimal Defense Hypothesis. In order to deal with the plant's adaptability, the animal likewise evolved counter-adaptations ...
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny [ 1 ] (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era , continuing in the early modern period with work by Pierre Belon who noted the similarities of the skeletons ...
Comparative sequence analysis examines the relationship between the DNA sequences of different species, [1] producing several lines of evidence that confirm Darwin's original hypothesis of common descent. If the hypothesis of common descent is true, then species that share a common ancestor inherited that ancestor's DNA sequence, as well as ...
Frogs are extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. They are an important food source for predators and part of the food web dynamics of many of the world's ecosystems. The skin is semi-permeable, making them susceptible to dehydration, so they either live in moist places or have special adaptations to deal with dry habitats.
This lizard likely also eats flowering plants, but due to no rain falling during the study period, the animals were not observed consuming these plants. [17] Other herbivores, such as Ctenosaura pectinata (the spiny-tail iguana), have a mixed diet, with 52% of its diet composed of leaves, 35% flowers, and 2% of fruits. [ 6 ]