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How Animals Feed :Question 3
Name: Class:
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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


Animal Typical Food
(a) Suggest what might be a typical food for each of the four animals named in the table above Gnu=
Elephant=
Cheetah=
Hyena=
(b) The Gnu actually spends 16h per day eat and chewing its food. What is happening during the 7h not shown in the table?  
(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.

 (i) elephant
Space for calculation





Answer:
(ii) cheetah
Space for calculation





Answer:
(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?  
(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?