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There are often trade-offs between costs and benefits in mammalian lifestyles. (The carnassials of the spotted hyena are especially important in slicing and shearing the hides of its prey - an ability that few other large carnivores have.) In the spotted hyena, strong premolars, as in (b), are linked with its ability to crush bones. Table 2 shows that the puma has a higher meat content in its diet than the spotted hyena, so you'd expect the flesh-shearing carnassials to be prominent and sharply angled, as in (a). The bear is (c) as mentioned earlier, the molars here are well developed and offer a substantial grinding surface. Where plant material is abundant in the diet the molars have a 'pestle and mortar' design, used to fragment plant material into small particles. raccoon, brown bear) are covered in the next course in this series, following the logic of DA's approach in LoM. Table 2 categorises the diet of a range of carnivores - those carnivores that deviate most strongly from meat eating (e.g. (Tigers more often kill with a crushing bite to the back of the prey's neck.)Īlthough, in the main, lions prey on large, hoofed mammals, they are known to take animals as small as rodents, hares, birds and reptiles. In the programme the lioness first brings down the prey and although it attaches by biting the back of the neck, you can see that it kills by suffocation, using canines and incisors, crushing the prey's windpipe. their canines) into the back of the rabbit's neck (a strike only just visible in the TV sequence), which has the effect of smashing the rear end of its skull'. Stoats generally kill rabbits by (in DA's words) 'stabbing their fangs (i.e. But in general, carnivores use the back molar teeth (M) for grinding tough foods, and these teeth are particularly well developed in bears. In those carnivores that are more inclined to plant-eating (notably pandas) these teeth have surfaces more suited to grinding.
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members of the cat and weasel family, respectively) and in hyenas. They are especially prominent in felids and some mustelids (i.e. The carnassials are thought to be of particular evolutionary significance, almost certainly present in the ancestors of carnivores. These scissor-blade-like teeth are positioned towards the back of the mouth - so that meat between them can be subjected to the greatest force in just the same sort of position as you would put something really tough in the jaws of a pair of scissors. The famous carnassial teeth are the fourth upper premolar and the first lower molar on each side. Behind these are the premolars (P), which are used in some species, like hyenas, to crush food and in others, like dogs, to pierce food. The canine (C) and incisor (I) teeth are used for killing prey and also for display and defence. Figure 2 shows the skull and lower jaw of a carnivore - in this instance, a member of the dog family - and you'll be familiar with the terminology used. Shared characteristics of this sort enabled earlier naturalists to deduce a common evolutionary ancestry - an origin more recently confirmed by modern DNA studies.Īs DA writes, the teeth of carnivores are both hunters' weapons and butchers' tools. All carnivores have a characteristically small collar bone (or clavicle). All have a fusion of certain bones in the wrist in non-Carnivora, like ourselves, these three bones of the wrist (the names needn't concern us) are independent. Some (like bears) walk on the soles of the feet (plantigrade) and others such as dogs walk on their toes (digitigrade). They have a worldwide distribution - from arctic foxes to equatorial lions. 2.2 What are the common features of Carnivora?Īs LoM and the TV programme reveal, there is great variation in the size and shape of carnivores and also in their lifestyle and behaviour.