Animal Nutrition
1) Animals are
chemoheterotrophs. What does this
mean?
What are the three major metabolic roles of food?
2) Describe the different
adaptations that have evolved in
animals
with respect to:
Ingestion
- Describe the 3 dietary categories in animals (Herbivores,
Carnivores,
Omnivores) and the 4 main ways in which animals feed.
Digestion
- Describe the process of enzymatic hydrolysis of food.
- Compare and contrast intracellular and extracellular
digestion.
Which groups of animals uses intracellular digestion?
- Compare and contrast gastrovascular cavities and alimentary
canals.
3) Trace the pathway of a
morsel of food through the digestive
tract
of a mammal. Discuss the structure and function of each of the
parts
of the alimentary canal (mouth,
pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small
intestine
(villi and micrvilli), large intestine (a.k.a. colon),
and anus).
4) Compare and contrast the
digestive tract of insects and
birds
to that of mammals. Which structures have analogous functions?
5) What roles do the pancreas
and liver play
in
digestion?
6) What structural differences are
there between the
alimentary
canals of carnivores and herbivores? What is the adaptive
significance
of these differences?
7) If animals
lack the enzyme that digests
cellulose,
how then do grazing herbivores obtain nutrition from cellulose?