Hypercarnivore
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A hypercarnivore is an animal that exclusively eats meat and nothing else.[1] Some examples include dolphins, eagles, snakes, marlin, most sharks, and such invertebrates as octopuses. 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]
Hypercarnivores need not be superpredators. 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 the Cimolestes that existed during the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods in North America about 65 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.[3] 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.
- ^ Holliday, J.A and S.J. Steppan (2004). "Evolution of hypercarnivory: the effect of specialization on morphological and taxonomic diversity". Paleobiology 30 (1): 108-128. doi:.
- ^ Holliday, Jill A; Steppan, Scott J (2004). "Evolution of hypercarnivory: the effect of specialization on morphological and taxonomic diversity". Paleobiology, Winter 2004 30: 108. doi:. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4067/is_200401/ai_n9407777/pg_1. Retrieved on 24 July.
- ^ Van Valkenburgh, B. (2004). "Cope's Rule, Hypercarnivory, and Extinction in North American Canids". Science 30: 101. doi:.
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