Costs of carnivory: tooth fracture in Pleistocene and Recent carnivorans
Costs of carnivory: tooth fracture in Pleistocene and Recent carnivorans
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食肉动物的代价：更新世和近代食肉动物的牙齿骨折
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发表时间：
2008
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
B. Valkenburgh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
B. Valkenburgh
大型食肉哺乳动物经常折断牙齿，这可能是当尸体被更充分地吃掉时，牙齿与骨头接触的结果，这种行为可能在食物紧张的情况下发生。最近对更新世食肉动物的研究表明，在生命中有大量牙齿断裂，这表明过去对尸体的利用以及因此导致的食物竞争比现在更加激烈。然而，饮食和牙齿断裂频率之间的假定联系是基于大型高度食肉物种的小样本。在目前的研究中，对现存的食肉动物进行了更大多样性的采样，包括食虫、杂食性和肉食性，大小从鼬鼠到老虎不等。习惯食用坚硬食物（骨头、贝壳）的物种骨折频率最高，其次是食肉动物，然后是食虫和/或杂食性物种。捕食者和猎物的大小与牙齿断裂的频率无关，但更具攻击性的物种确实更频繁地折断牙齿。将现代样本与5个更新世物种进行比较，证实了以前发现的更高的牙齿断裂率，尽管一些现存物种的断裂频率接近已灭绝物种。因此，更新世捕食者行会的特点似乎是竞争水平相对较高，这在今天是很少见的。©2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of The Linnean Society, 2009,96, 68‐81。
Large, carnivorous mammals often break their teeth, probably as a result of tooth to bone contact that occurs when carcasses are consumed more fully, a behaviour likely to occur under conditions of food stress. Recent studies of Pleistocene predators revealed high numbers of teeth broken in life, suggesting that carcass utilization and, consequently, food competition was more intense in the past than at present. However, the putative association between diet and tooth fracture frequency was based on a small sample of large, highly carnivorous species. In the present study, a greater diversity of extant carnivorans is sampled, including insectivorous, omnivorous, and carnivorous forms, ranging in size from weasels to tigers. Species that habitually consume hard foods (bones, shells) had the highest fracture frequencies, followed by carnivores, and then insectivorous and/or omnivorous species. Predator and prey sizes were not associated with tooth fracture frequency, but more aggressive species did break their teeth more often. Comparison of the modern sample with five Pleistocene species confirms the previous finding of higher tooth breakage in the past, although some extant species have fracture frequencies that approach those of extinct species. Thus, the Pleistocene predator guild appears to have been characterized by relatively high levels of competition that are rarely observed today. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 96, 68‐81.