Carnivora

2009

Springer eBooks, 2023

The order Carnivora (whose members are here denoted carnivorans) is one of the most species-rich mammalian groups of the modern world. Although there is no consensus regarding the number of extant species, it can be estimated at more than 280, to which can be added well over 1000 known fossil species. Confusingly, not all members of the Carnivora are carnivores (i.e. animals that require substantial amounts of animal protein in their diet), nor are all carnivores members of the Carnivora. Among extant species of Carnivora, several, e.g. the giant panda, feed

Information regarding trends in research on terrestrial species of the order Carnivora can provide an understanding of the degree of knowledge of the order, or lack thereof, as well as help identifying areas on which to focus future research efforts. With the aim of providing information on these trends, this work presents a review of the thematic focuses of studies addressing this order published over the past three decades. Relevant works published in 16 scientific journals were analyzed globally and by continent with respect of topics, species, and families. We found a total of 2117 articles referencing this order, which focused on the families Ursidae, Felidae, Canidae, and Hyaenidae, with a lesser representation of Eupleridae, Herpestidae, and Mephitidae. The highest number of articles per species was found in Europe, and the lowest in Asia and Africa.

2010

The mammalian order Carnivora has attracted the attention of scientists of various disciplines for decades, leading to intense interest in defining its supra-familial relationships. In the last few years, major changes to the topological structure of the carnivoran tree have been proposed and supported by various molecular data sets, radically changing the traditional view of family composition in this order. Although a sequence of molecular studies have established a growing consensus with respect to most inter-familial relationships, no analysis so far has included all carnivoran lineages (both feliform and caniform) in an integrated data set, so as to determine comparative patterns of diversification. Moreover, no study conducted thus far has estimated divergence dates among all carnivoran families, which is an important requirement in the attempt to understand the patterns and tempo of diversification in this group. In this study, we have investigated the phylogenetic relationships among carnivoran families, and performed molecular dating analyses of the inferred nodes. We assembled a molecular supermatrix containing 14 genes (7765 bp), most of which have not been previously used in supra-familial carnivoran phylogenetics, for 50 different genera representing all carnivoran families. Analysis of this data set led to consistent and robust resolution of all supra-familial nodes in the carnivoran tree, and allowed the construction of a molecular timescale for the evolution of this mammalian order.

Systematic Biology, 2011

1989

Behavioral Development of Terrestrial Carnivores MARC BEKOFF Why Development? The importance of fully understanding behavioral development cannot be emphasized too strongly. Without detailed knowledge of how the behavior of individuals unfolds throughout life, and not only during infancy, we can only guess at the supposed adaptive significance of various ontogenetic patterns and how they may be related to (1) the immediate situation in which a young animal finds itself and (2) its later reproductive activities and fitness (Tin

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1984

Broadly speaking, members of the order Carnivora are distinguished from other mammals by their carnassial dentition and the high proportion of vertebrates their diets (Carnivora is derived from the Latin caro: carnis meaning "flesh" and voro, "to devour"). As in other mammalian orders, however, there are many interesting exceptions to these general characteristics. For example, the white-tailed mongoose and the bat-eared fox are insectivorous; the red panda and the giant panda feed primarily on bamboo; and the black bear maintains itself on a catholic herbivorous/frugivorous diet. Besides their dentition and diet, carnivores' other pronounced traits (93, 140, 242, 243, 271) include: (a) a jaw joint that is a transverse hinge, which facilitates biting and cutting but does not permit grinding action by the teeth; (b) a vertebral column that is strong and flexible and a long tail; (c) a brain that is relatively large, particularly in comparison to herbivores and insectivores; (d) anal and forehead scent glands that are well-developed and are used in marking, social recognition, and defense; (e) a walking gait that ranges from plantigrade to digitigrade; and (f) in most species, soft fur covered by longer guard hairs. The order Carnivora is divided into two superfamilies, Canoidea and Feloidea, and seven polytypic families-Canidae, Ursidae, Procyonidae, Mustelidae, Viverridae, Hyaenidae, and Felidae. Although there is continuing controversy, growing evidence suggests that the red panda and giant panda belong in two monotypic families, Ailuridae and Ailuropodidae, respectively, rather than in the Procyonidae or Ursidae, as was previously thought (83, 251). CANIDAE The Canidae, with 36 species divided among 16 genera, is composed of small-to mediumsized carnivores (1-60 kg) distinguished by their cursorial mobility and strong jaws and cheek muscles (60, 226, 227, 285). Canids live in a wide variety of habitats. More behavioral and ecological information is available for Canidae than for any other carnivore family because they are typically diurnal and include an unusually large number of group-living species (4

This page intentionally left blank Carnivoran Evolution Members of the mammalian clade Carnivora have invaded nearly every continent and ocean, evolving into bamboo-eating pandas, clam-eating walruses, and, of course, flesh-eating sabre-toothed cats. With this ecological, morphological, and taxonomic diversity and a fossil record spanning over sixty million years, Carnivora has proven to be a model clade for addressing questions of broad evolutionary significance. This volume brings together top international scientists with contributions that focus on current advances in our understanding of carnivoran relationships, ecomorphology, and macroevolutionary patterns. Topics range from the palaeoecology of the earliest fossil carnivorans to the influences of competition and constraint on diversity and biogeographic distributions. Several studies address ecomorphological convergences among carnivorans and other mammals with morphometric and Finite Element analyses, while others consider how new molecular and palaeontological data have changed our understanding of carnivoran phylogeny. Combined, these studies also illustrate the diverse suite of approaches and questions in evolutionary biology and palaeontology.

Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 2015

Convergent evolution is often reported in the mammalian order Carnivora. Their adaptations to particularly demanding feeding habits such as hypercarnivory and durophagy (consumption of tough food) appear to favour morphological similarities between distantly related species, especially in the skull. However, phylogenetic effect in phenotypic data might obscure such a pattern. We first validated the hypotheses that extant hypercarnivorous and durophagous large carnivorans converge in mandibular shape and form (=size and shape). Hypercarnivores generally exhibit smaller volumes of the multidimensional shape and form space than their sister taxa, but this pattern is significantly different from random expectation only when hunting behaviour categorisations are taken into account. Durophages share areas of the morphospace, but this seems to be due to factors of contingency. Carnivorans that hunt in pack exhibit incomplete convergence while even stronger similarities occur in the mandible shape of solitary hunters due to the high functional demands in killing the prey. We identified a stronger phylogenetic signal in mandibular shape than in size. The quantification of evolutionary rates of changes suggests that mandible shape of solitary hunters evolved slowly when compared to the other carnivorans. These results consistently indicate that the need for strong bite force and robust mandible override sheer phylogenetic effect in solitary hunters.

The fossil record of the order Carnivora extends back at least 60 million years and documents a remarkable history of adaptive radiation characterized by the repeated, independent evolution of similar feeding morphologies in distinct clades. Within the order, convergence is apparent in the iterative appearance of a variety of ecomorphs, including cat-like, hyena-like, and wolf-like hypercarnivores, as well as a variety of less carnivorous forms, such as foxes, raccoons, and ursids. The iteration of similar forms has multiple causes. First, there are a limited number of ways to ecologically partition the carnivore niche, and second, the material properties of animal tissues (muscle, skin, bone) have not changed over the Cenozoic. Consequently, similar craniodental adaptations for feeding on different proportions of animal versus plant tissues evolve repeatedly. The extent of convergence in craniodental form can be striking, affecting skull proportions and overall shape, as well as dental morphology. The tendency to evolve highly convergent ecomorphs is most apparent among feeding extremes, such as sabertooths and bone-crackers where performance requirements tend to be more acute. A survey of the fossil record indicates that large hypercarnivores evolve frequently, often in response to ecological opportunity afforded by the decline or extinction of previously dominant hypercarnivorous taxa. While the evolution of large size and carnivory may be favored at the individual level, it can lead to a macroevolutionary ratchet, wherein dietary specialization and reduced population densities result in a greater vulnerability to extinction. As a result of these opposing forces, the fossil record of Carnivora is dominated by successive clades of hypercarnivores that diversify and decline, only to be replaced by new hypercarnivorous clades. This has produced a marvelous set of natural experiments in the evolution of similar ecomorphs, each of which start from phylogenetically and morphologically unique positions.