science

Hypercarnivore

Hypercarnivore is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hypercarnivore rather than just read about it. In short: A hypercarnivore is a carnivorous animal that has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits, or other plant material.

Key takeaways

Hypercarnivore belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hypercarnivore to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hypercarnivore from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A hypercarnivore is a carnivorous animal that has a diet that is more than 70% meat, either via active predation or by scavenging. The remaining non-meat diet may consist of non-animal foods such as fungi, fruits, or other plant material. Some extant examples of hypercarnivorous animals include crocodilians, owls, shrikes, eagles, vultures, felids, some wild canids, polar bears, odontocetid cetaceans (toothed whales), snakes, spiders, scorpions, mantises, marlins, groupers, piranhas and most sharks. Every species in the family Felidae, including the domesticated cat, is a hypercarnivore in its natural state. 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. In domestic settings, e.g. cats may have a diet derived from only plant and synthetic sources using modern processing methods. Feeding farmed animals such as alligators and crocodiles mostly or fully plant-based feed is sometimes done to save costs or as an environmentally friendly alternative. Hypercarnivores are not necessarily apex predators. For example, salmon are exclusively carnivorous, yet they are prey at all stages of life for a variety of organisms. As an example of related species with differing diets, even though they diverged only 150,000 years ago, the polar bear is the most highly carnivorous bear (more than 90% of its diet is meat) while the grizzly bear is one of the least carnivorous in many locales, with less than 10% of its diet being meat. The genomes of the Tasmanian devil, killer whale, polar bear, leopard, lion, tiger, cheetah and domestic cat were analysed: shared positive selection for two genes have been found related to bone development and repair (DMP1, PTN), which is not a development seen in either omnivores or herbivores. This indicates that a stronger bone structure is a crucial requirement and drives selection towards predatory hypercarnivore lifestyle in mammals. Positive selection of one gene related to enhanced bone mineralisation has been found in the Scimitar-toothed cat (Homotherium latidens). Animals that live almost exclusively on food of animal origin are incapable of biosynthesizing arachidonic acid. This characteristic has been found in the lion, the domestic cat, the turbot, and even the haematophagous mosquito. In hypercarnivore mammals, the enzyme alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase is expressed mainly or exclusively in the mitochondria, which would allow glyoxylate to be metabolised from the hydroxyproline present in animal matter.

See also Hypocarnivore List of feeding behaviours Mesocarnivore

References

External links

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hypercarnivore

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hypercarnivore claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hypercarnivore before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hypercarnivore ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hypercarnivore

In research: Hypercarnivore appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hypercarnivore in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hypercarnivore is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Carnivory, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hypercarnivore outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hypercarnivore in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hypercarnivore means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hypercarnivore out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hypercarnivore in simple terms?

Why does Hypercarnivore matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hypercarnivore?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hypercarnivore.