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Hypercarnivore

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The lion, like all felids in their natural state, is a hypercarnivore

A hypercarnivore is an animal which has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits or other plant material.[1][2] Some extant examples of hypercarnivorous animals include crocodilians, owls, shrikes, eagles, vultures, felids, most wild canids, polar bear, odontocetid cetaceans (toothed whales), snakes, spiders, scorpions, mantises, marlins, groupers, piranhas and most sharks. Every species in the family Felidae, including the domesticated cat, is a hypercarnivore in its natural state. Additionally, this term is also used in paleobiology to describe taxa of animals which have an increased slicing component of their dentition relative to the grinding component.[2] In domestic settings, e.g. cats may have a diet designed from only plant and synthetic sources using modern processing methods.[3] Feeding farmed animals such as alligators and crocodiles mostly or fully plant-based feed is sometimes done to save costs or as an environmentally friendly alternative.[4][5] Hypercarnivores need not be apex predators. For example, salmon are exclusively carnivorous, yet they are prey at all stages of life for a variety of organisms.

Many prehistoric mammals of the clade Carnivoramorpha (Carnivora and Miacoidea without Creodonta), along with the early order Creodonta, and some mammals of the even earlier order Cimolesta, were hypercarnivores. The earliest carnivorous mammal is considered to be Cimolestes, which existed during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene periods in North America about 66 million years ago. Theropod dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex that existed during the late Cretaceous, although not mammals, were obligate carnivores.

Large hypercarnivores evolved frequently in the fossil record, often in response to an ecological opportunity afforded by the decline or extinction of previously dominant hypercarnivorous taxa. While the evolution of large size and carnivory may be favored at the individual level, it can lead to a macroevolutionary decline, wherein such extreme dietary specialization results in reduced population densities and a greater vulnerability for extinction.[6] As a result of these opposing forces, the fossil record of carnivores is dominated by successive clades of hypercarnivores that diversify and decline, only to be replaced by new hypercarnivorous clades.

As an example of related species with differing diets, even though they diverged only 150,000 years ago,[7] the polar bear is the most highly carnivorous bear (more than 90% of its diet is meat) while the grizzly bear is one of the least carnivorous in many locales, with less than 10% of its diet being meat.[8][9][10]

The genomes of the Tasmanian devil, killer whale, polar bear, leopard, lion, tiger, cheetah and domestic cat were analysed, and shared positive selection for two genes related to bone development and repair (DMP1, PTN), which is not seen in omnivores or herbivores, has been found. This indicates that a stronger bone structure is a crucial requirement and drives selection towards predatory hypercarnivore lifestyle in mammals.[11][12] Positive selection of one gene related to enhanced bone mineralisation has been found in the Scimitar-toothed cat (Homotherium latidens).[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Van Valkenburgh, Blaire (Spring 1988). "Trophic diversity in past and present guilds of large predatory mammals". Paleobiology. 14 (2): 155–73. Bibcode:1988Pbio...14..155V. doi:10.1017/S0094837300011891.
  2. ^ a b Holliday, Jill A.; Steppan, Scott J. (2004). "Evolution of hypercarnivory: the effect of specialization on morphological and taxonomic diversity" (PDF). Paleobiology. 30 (1): 108–128. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2004)030<0108:EOHTEO>2.0.CO;2.
  3. ^ Devlin, Hannah; correspondent, Hannah Devlin Science (2023-09-13). "Cats may get health benefits from vegan diet, study suggests". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-04-10. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Flint, Mark; Flint, Jaylene (2023-10-26). "Use of soybean as an alternative protein source for welfare-orientated production of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)". PeerJ. 11: e16321. doi:10.7717/peerj.16321. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 10613434. PMID 37904841.
  5. ^ "Crocodiles in Zimbabwe fed vegetarian diet to make better handbags". The Telegraph. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  6. ^ Van Valkenburgh, Blaire; Wang, Xiaoming; Damuth, John (October 2004). "Cope's Rule, Hypercarnivory, and Extinction in North American Canids". Science. 306 (5693): 101–4. Bibcode:2004Sci...306..101V. doi:10.1126/science.1102417. PMID 15459388. S2CID 12017658.
  7. ^ Lindqvist, Charlotte; Schuster, Stephan C.; Sun, Yazhou; Talbot, Sandra L.; et al. (2010). "Complete mitochondrial genome of a Pleistocene jawbone unveils the origin of polar bear". PNAS. 107 (11): 5053–5057. Bibcode:2010PNAS..107.5053L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0914266107. PMC 2841953. PMID 20194737.
  8. ^ Herrero, Stephen (1985). Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. Nick Lyons Books/Winchester Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-8329-0377-9. OCLC 11726851.
  9. ^ "Arctic Bears". PBS Nature. February 17, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-07-16.
  10. ^ "Grizzly". Hinterland Who's Who. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  11. ^ Kim, Soonok; Cho, Yun Sung; Kim, Hak-Min; Chung, Oksung; Kim, Hyunho; Jho, Sungwoong; Seomun, Hong; Kim, Jeongho; Bang, Woo Young; Kim, Changmu; An, Junghwa; Bae, Chang Hwan; Bhak, Youngjune; Jeon, Sungwon; Yoon, Hyejun (2016). "Comparison of carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore mammalian genomes with a new leopard assembly". Genome Biology. 17 (1): 211. doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1071-4. ISSN 1474-760X. PMC 5090899. PMID 27802837.
  12. ^ "First genome sequence of Amur leopard highlights the drawback of a meat only diet". www.biomedcentral.com. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
  13. ^ Barnett, Ross; Westbury, Michael V.; Sandoval-Velasco, Marcela; Vieira, Filipe Garrett; Jeon, Sungwon; Zazula, Grant; Martin, Michael D.; Ho, Simon Y.W.; Mather, Niklas; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam; Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmín; de Manuel, Marc; Zepeda-Mendoza, M. Lisandra; Antunes, Agostinho; Baez, Aldo Carmona (2020). "Genomic Adaptations and Evolutionary History of the Extinct Scimitar-Toothed Cat, Homotherium latidens". Current Biology. 30 (24): 5018–5025.e5. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.051. ISSN 0960-9822. PMC 7762822. PMID 33065008.
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