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How Animals Feed
Reference chapter
Question 3
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Study the information in the table below.
Animal |
Meals |
Length of Meal (h) |
Food Eaten (kg/day) |
Mass of Animal (kg) |
Gnu |
each day |
9 |
400 |
500 |
Elephant |
each day |
15 |
200 |
5000 |
Cheetah |
every 2 or 3 days |
eats quickly |
6 |
50 |
Hyena |
every 2 or 3 days |
eats quickly |
4 |
70 |
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(a) Suggest what might be a typical food for each of the four animals named in the table above |
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(b) The Gnu actually spends 16h per day eat and chewing its food. What is happening during the 7h not shown in the table? |
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(c) What percentage of its body mass is eaten by (i) the elephant and (ii) the cheetah with each meal? Use the following equation:
mass of food x 100
mass of the animal
or the mass of food (kg) multiplied by 100 and the result divided by the mass of the animal (kg). The answer is a percentage. |
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(d) Why are the cheetah and hyena able to eat their food quickly, but the elephant and the gnu spend a long time chewing their food? |
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(e) Why do you think that the cheetah and hyena are able to eat relatively small amounts every two days but the elephant and the
gnu need to eat large amounts every day? |
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Paul Billiet & Shirley Burchill 2009 |
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