Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Mammals evolved from cynodonts, a group of superficially dog-like therapsid synapsids that survived the Permian–Triassic mass extinction.The emerging archosaurian sauropsids, including pseudosuchians, pterosaurs and dinosaurs and their ancestors, flourished after the Early Triassic Smithian–Spathian boundary event and competitively displaced the larger therapsids into extinction, leaving ...
Sleep can follow a physiological or behavioral definition. In the physiological sense, sleep is a state characterized by reversible unconsciousness, special brainwave patterns, sporadic eye movement, loss of muscle tone (possibly with some exceptions; see below regarding the sleep of birds and of aquatic mammals), and a compensatory increase following deprivation of the state, this last known ...
Crepuscular, a classification of animals that are active primarily during twilight, making them similar to nocturnal animals. Diurnality, plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night. Cathemeral, a classification of organisms with sporadic and random intervals of activity during the day or night.
Although night monkey, like all primates are endothermic, meaning they are able to produce their own heat, night monkeys undergo behavioural thermoregulation in order to minimize energy expenditure. [29] During the hottest points of the day, night monkeys are resting and therefore expending less energy in the form of heat.
The kiwi is a family of nocturnal birds endemic to New Zealand.. While it is difficult to say which came first, nocturnality or diurnality, a hypothesis in evolutionary biology, the nocturnal bottleneck theory, postulates that in the Mesozoic, many ancestors of modern-day mammals evolved nocturnal characteristics in order to avoid contact with the numerous diurnal predators. [3]
Some crepuscular animals may also be active by moonlight or during an overcast day. Matutinal animals are active only after dawn, and vespertine only before dusk. A number of factors affect the time of day an animal is active. Predators hunt when their prey is available, and prey try to avoid the times when their principal predators are at large.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
[2]: 187 Despite their adaptations to a low-energy lifestyle, they have meagre fat reserves. [2]: 189 Their low-energy diet limits their activity and they sleep 20 hours a day. [11]: 93 [47] They are predominantly active at night and spend most of their waking hours foraging. They typically eat and sleep in the same tree, possibly for as long ...