Predatory animals - villains or orderlies

It is known that zoologists distinguish in the class Mammalian detachment Predatory animals, to which liveorganisms that eat meat. Their body is adapted to capture live prey, its killing and digestion. However, it is also true that not only mammals can be characterized as predatory animals. Reptiles also feed on meat, for example, crocodiles, snakes. There are fish-predators, these are all known sharks, pike, zander, catfish. There are birds that catch the victim, kill it and eat it.

All of the above organisms arepredators, and there are a lot of them on earth. There are only three types of food, and according to them, animals are divided into carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous. It is not difficult to guess that the former feed on meat, the latter on plant food, and the third ones have perfectly adapted and can use both.

If we consider mammals, then the order of predatoryanimals include land and water creatures. The latter include such inhabitants of the seas as a seal, seal, fur seal. Terrestrial beasts-predators are subdivided into suborders Cats, Psalms. The latter include the family of Cunya, Bear, Dog and others. Unification in these groups occurs due to the presence of certain features of anatomy and physiology.

In general, predator animals are characterized bycertain signs of the structure of the body, which help them to hunt, catch and kill prey. These include: limbs with 4 or 5 fingers with pronounced claws, a small rounded skull, well developed eyes, olfactory and hearing, vibrissae, differentiated dental system. The teeth of predators include incisors for tearing pieces of food, canines for holding and killing victims, molars and premolars for crushing food. Predatory animals have a flexible body, adapted for jumping, running, throws. Their speed and reaction are usually high.

The digestive system of such creaturesIt is intended for digestion of meat food: high acidity of gastric juice, and the stomach itself is capacious and extensible. But their intestines are relatively small, the small intestine is small or absent altogether.

Why do we need such animals?

From the point of view of biology, they are veryan important function of regulating the number of species of living beings serving as food. Also, predators destroy old, sick, unproductive organisms, which is the most important factor in natural selection.

Africa is the land of predators

The African continent, where the severeprimordial nature, due to difficult conditions of survival is one of the most "rich" predators. There live many such species of cat and dog, like panthers (leopards), hyenas, lions, cheetahs, jackals, hyena dogs, and feniks. But the list of "predatory animals of Africa" ​​is not exhausted by them. The huge deadly reptiles - crocodiles - and giant poisonous snakes also live there. Among the latter are cobra, viper and mamba. Non-poisonous reptiles - pythons - also feed on meat, although they kill the victim in a different way.

In the world there are more than 250 species of predatorymammals. Strangely enough, they need protection. Due to human activities, many of them are threatened with extinction and listed in the Red Book.