American scientists from Arizona State University have found a link between an animal’s body temperature and its likelihood of switching to a plant-based diet. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB).
The team analyzed data from 1,712 species and found a consistent pattern: Creatures with higher body temperatures were more likely to evolve into herbivores. This relationship held true not only among mammals, but also among all other groups of land-dwelling vertebrates.
According to the authors of the discovery, the connection between body temperature and nutrition is related to digestive problems that occur when eating plants.
High levels of body temperature may be necessary to support cellulose-degrading gut bacteria.
“We found that body temperature was a requirement for the evolution of herbivorous feeding. We didn’t see a single herbivore that didn’t have a really high body temperature. Usually, the body temperature exceeded 30°C,” the experts said.
Scientists added that herbivory arose relatively recently. Tetrapods appeared on Earth more than 350 million years ago, and all herbivore groups existing today are less than 110 million years old.
The emergence of plant-eating animals coincided with the spread of flowering plants.
The study also revealed that herbivory is an evolutionarily unstable trait, with experts observing numerous cases of species switching from herbivory to carnivory.
For example, Alston’s singing mice, common in Central America, have shifted from their ancestral plant-based diet to an insect diet. The reason for this instability is not yet known.
Earlier scientists I learnedWhen the first dinosaurs with the characteristics of warm-blooded animals appeared on Earth.
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Source: Gazeta
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