Wildlife management - habit, habitat, territory & niche of animals

Habit, habitat, territory & niche of animals.
Herbivores, carnivores; solitary, pack and herd.

1. WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT Habit, habitat, territory & niche of animals. Herbivores , carnivores; solitary, pack and herd. Anish Gawande Dr. Manisha Kayande

2. What is Habit ? Habit is equivalent to habitus in some applications in biology; the term refers variously to aspects of behavior or structure, as follows: In zoology (particularly in ethology), habit usually refers to aspects of more or less predictable behavior, instinctive or otherwise, though it also has broader application. Habitus refers to the characteristic form or morphology of a species. In botany habit is the characteristic form in which a given species of plant grows. Eating habit of Cat Hunting habit of Cheetah Pouncing habit of Puma

3. What is Habitat ? The habitat is the physical area where a species lives. Many factors are used to describe a habitat. The average amount of sunlight received each day, the range of annual temperatures, and average yearly rainfall can all describe a habitat. These and other abiotic factors will affect the kind of traits an organism must have in order to survive there. The temperature, the amount of rainfall, the type of soil and other abiotic factors all have a significant role in determining the plants that invade an area. The plants then determine the animals that come to eat the plants, and so on. A habitat should not be confused with an ecosystem: the habitat is the actual place of the ecosystem, whereas the ecosystem includes both the biotic and abiotic factors in the habitat.

4. What is Territory ? In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics (or, occasionally, animals of other species). Animals that defend territories in this way are referred to as territorial. Territoriality is only shown by a minority of species. More commonly, an individual or a group of animals has an area that it habitually uses but does not necessarily defend; this is called the home range. The home ranges of different groups of animals often overlap, or in the overlap areas, the groups tend to avoid each other rather than seeking to expel each other. Within the home range there may be a core area that no other individual group uses, but, again, this is as a result of avoidance. The ultimate function of animals inhabiting and defending a territory is to increase the individual fitness or inclusive fitness of the animals expressing the behavior. Fitness in this biological sense relates to the ability of an animal to survive and raise young. The proximate functions of territory defense vary. For some animals, the reason for such protective behavior is to acquire and protect food sources, nesting sites, mating areas, or to attract a mate. Wolf marking its territory by pissing on the tree Tiger marking his territory by scratching on the tree

5. What is Niche ? Each organism plays a particular role in its ecosystem. A niche is the role a species plays in the ecosystem. In other words, a niche is how an organism “makes a living.” A niche will include the organism's role in the flow of energy through the ecosystem. This involves how the organism gets its energy, which usually has to do with what an organism eats, and how the organism passes that energy through the ecosystem, which has to do with what eats the organism. An organism's niche also includes how the organism interacts with other organisms, and its role in recycling nutrients.

6. Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivores.

7. Herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthparts adapted to rasping or grinding. Horses and other herbivores have wide flat teeth that are adapted to grinding grass, tree bark, and other tough plant material. A large percentage of herbivores have mutualistic gut flora that help them digest plant matter, which is more difficult to digest than animal prey. This flora is made up of cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria.

8. Herbivores Food chain Herbivores form an important link in the food chain; because they consume plants in order to digest the carbohydrates photosynthetically produced by a plant. Carnivores in turn consume herbivores for the same reason, while omnivores can obtain their nutrients from either plants or animals. Due to a herbivore's ability to survive solely on tough and fibrous plant matter, they are termed the primary consumers in the food cycle (chain). Herbivory , carnivory , and omnivory can be regarded as special cases of Consumer-Resource Systems.

9. Carnivores A carnivore (Latin, caro , genitive carnis , meaning "meat" or "flesh" and vorare meaning "to devour"), is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging. Animals that depend solely on animal flesh for their nutrient requirements are called obligate carnivores while those that also consume non-animal food are called facultative carnivores. Omnivores also consume both animal and non-animal food, and, apart from the more general definition, there is no clearly defined ratio of plant to animal material that would distinguish a facultative carnivore from an omnivore. A carnivore that sits at the top of the food chain is termed an apex predator. The word "carnivore" sometimes refers to the mammalian order Carnivora , but this is somewhat misleading. While many Carnivora meet the definition of being meat eaters, not all do, and even fewer are true obligate carnivores (see below). For example, most species of bears are actually omnivorous, except for the giant panda, which is almost exclusively herbivorous, and the exclusively meat-eating polar bear, which lives in the Arctic, where few plants grow. In addition, there are plenty of carnivorous species that are not members of Carnivora .

10. Carnivores Obligate carnivores Obligate carnivores, or "true" carnivores, are those carnivores whose survival depends on nutrients which are found only in animal flesh. While obligate carnivores might be able to ingest small amounts of plant material, because of their evolution they lack the necessary physiology required to digest that plant matter. In fact, some obligate carnivorous mammals will only ever ingest vegetation for its specific use as an emetic to self-induce vomiting to rid itself of food that has upset its stomach. An example is the Axolotl, which consumes mainly worms and larvae in its environment, but if necessary will consume algae. For instance, felids including the domestic cat are obligate carnivores requiring a diet of primarily animal flesh and organs. Specifically, cats have high protein requirements and their metabolisms appear unable to synthesize certain essential nutrients (including retinol, arginine, taurine , and arachidonic acid), and thus, in nature, they can rely only on animal flesh as their diet to supply these nutrients.

11. Carnivores Characteristics of carnivores Characteristics commonly associated with carnivores include organs for capturing and disarticulating prey (teeth and claws serve these functions in many vertebrates) and status as a predator. In truth, these assumptions may be misleading, as some carnivores do not hunt and are scavengers (though most hunting carnivores will scavenge when the opportunity exists). Thus they do not have the characteristics associated with hunting carnivores. Carnivores have comparatively short digestive systems, as they are not required to break down tough cellulose found in plants. Many animals that hunt other animals have evolved eyes that face forward, thus making depth perception possible. This is almost universal among mammalian predators. Other predators, like crocodiles, as well as most reptiles and amphibians, have sideways facing eyes.

12. Solitary animal Solitary animals are those that spend a majority of their lives without others of their species, with possible exceptions for mating and raising their young. The antonym to a solitary animal is a social animal.

13. Solitary animal Territorial Animals that are solitary are often territorial and do not like the company of another animal in their territory and especially an animal of their own kind. This could be due to competition between rivals for the opportunity to mate or over territory. In some species these fights can end in the death of one or both animals. Exceptions The few times a solitary animal is with another of its kind is when it is caring for its offspring or when it is ready to mate. Nevertheless, when an offspring becomes independent the youngster will either leave on its own or be rejected by its parent. This trait could be because the parent no longer tolerates the presence of another of its kind or it is ready to mate again and cannot care for both its first offspring and a newborn. During a time of mating, a solitary animal tries to find a mate, and once the act is completed, the animal may repeat the mating process several times and then resume its solitary lifestyle. Reasons Solitary animals live alone to avoid competition against other members of their own species.

14. Examples of solitary animals Jaguars Tigers Leopards, snow leopards and clouded leopards Pumas Lynxs and Bobcats Ocelots Wildcats Bears Giant and red pandas Moose Rhinoceroses (except white rhinoceros) Aardvarks Badgers Foxes Koalas Tasmanian devils Platypuses Sea turtles Leopard geckos Owls

15. Pack  of animals Pack is a social group of conspecific canids . Not all species of canids form packs; for example, small canids like the red fox do not. Pack size and social behaviour within packs varies across species.

16. Pack of animals Pack behavior in specific species African wild dogs ( Lycaon pictus ) live and hunt in packs. Males assist in raising the pups, and remain with their pack for life, while the females leave their birth pack at about the age of two and a half years old to join a pack with no females. Males outnumber the females in a pack, and usually only one female breeds with all of the males. African wild dogs are not territorial, and they hunt cooperatively in their packs, running down large game and tearing it apart. They cooperate in caring for wounded and sick pack members as well as the young.

17. Pack of animals Pack behavior in specific species Black-backed jackals ( Canis mesomelas ) in Africa and coyotes ( Canis latrans ) which are only found in North America have a single long term mate, but they usually either hunt singly or as a pair. Both parents care for the young, and the parents and their current offspring are the pack. They occasionally cooperate in larger packs to hunt large game.

18. Pack of animals Pack behavior in specific species Gray wolves ( Canis lupus) usually live in packs which consist of the adult parents and their offspring of perhaps the last 2 or 3 years. The adult parents are usually unrelated and other unrelated wolves may sometimes join the pack. Wolves usually hunt in packs, but they hunt singly in the spring and summer when there is plenty of prey available. They are found in both Eurasia and North America.

19. Pack of animals Pack behavior in specific species The Ethiopian wolf ( Canis simensis ) has different social behavior from the gray wolf: pack members hunt alone for rodents, and come together mainly to defend their territory from other packs.

20. Pack of animals Pack behavior in specific species Domestic dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris ): Domesticated dogs have had humans as part of dog social structure for at least 12,000 years, and human behaviour is not the same as wolf behaviour . Studies of dog behaviour include studies of dogs and their interactions with humans,[6] and "dumped" or "road" dogs that were raised by humans and then left to fend for themselves.

21. Herd of animals A herd is a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is referred to as herding. The term herd is generally applied to mammals, and most particularly to the grazing ungulates that classically display this behavior. Different terms are used for similar groupings in other species; in the case of birds, for example, the word is flocking, but flock may also be used, in certain instances, for mammals, particularly sheep or goats. A group of quail is often referred to as a covey. Large groups of carnivores are usually called packs, and in nature a herd is classically subject to predation from pack hunters. Special collective nouns may be used for particular taxa (for example a flock of geese, if not in flight, is sometimes called a gaggle) but for theoretical discussions of behavioral ecology, the generic term herd can be used for all such kinds of assemblage.[citation needed] The word herd, as a noun, can also refer to one who controls, possesses and has care for such groups of animals when they are domesticated. Examples of herds in this sense include shepherds (who tend to sheep), goatherds (who tend to goats), cowherds (who tend cattle), and others.

22. Herd of animals The structure and size of herds A herd is by definition relatively unstructured. However, there may be one or a few animals which tend to be imitated by the rest of the members of the herd more than others. An animal taking this role is called a "control animal", since its behaviour will predict that of the herd as a whole. It cannot be assumed, however, that the control animal is deliberately taking a leadership role. Control animals are not necessarily, or even usually, those that are socially dominant in conflict situations, though they frequently are. Group size is an important characteristic of the social environment of gregarious species.

23. Herd of animals Domestic herds Domestic animal herds are assembled by humans for practicality in raising them and controlling them. Their behavior may be quite different from that of wild herds of the same or related species, since both their composition (in terms of the distribution of age and sex within the herd) and their history (in terms of when and how the individuals joined the herd) are likely to be very different.

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