A legless vertebrate, 3 feet long, with sharp incisor teeth at the very front of its mouth: teeth at the back of its mouth that have flat, wide, bumpy surfaces; a stomach divided into 3 separate chambers; and a long coild small intestine; and no gallbladder.
2007-02-12
01:42:11
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7 answers
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asked by
Cass C
2
in
Science & Mathematics
➔ Zoology
What would its food and feeding habits be.
2007-02-12
02:01:17 ·
update #1
I don't think there is any living organism that fits that description completely.
Is this a real critter, or a hypothetical creature?
The closest thing I can think of would be a parrot fish.
A heterodont dentition like you describe (with incisors in front, and 'molars' in the back) are generally a feature of mammals, and I can't think of any legless mammal species.
Most legless vertebrates are either burrowing (glass lizards, caecilians), or descended from burrowers, or aquatic. Snakes are the only large group of legless terrestrial vertebrates, and none of them have teeth or digestive systems like you describe.
Teeth like that would be ideal for gnawing hard materials, such as nuts or seeds, and grinding up tough plant material. It is likely that such a critter would be a herbivore. Rodents and rabbits are two groups that show teeth like this.
A multiple chambered stomach is a feature of larger artiodactyl herbivores, such as cattle. It is an adaptation for processing as much nutrition out of hard to digest tough plant material as possible - usually tough grasses. Smaller animals, such as this one, generally don't have the room to devote to such elaborate digestive systems. Rabbits are a small animal that feeds on grasses and other tough material, but they don't have the multi-chambered stomach. Instead, they send the food through the system multiple times (a process known as refection). This critter would apparently be chewing on hard, shell covered material that is also difficult to digest, and it processes it in an elaborate stomach system.
No gallbladder indicates that the critter is not eating material that is high in fat content. The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver and uses it to help emulsify fat during digestion. Large gall bladders are usually seen in carnivores, who must digest the fat from their prey. This again indicates that your critter is probably a herbivore.
The long intestines again indicate that the critter is feeding on something difficult to digest, and is using the long intestinal system to garner as much nutrition as possible from the food. Carnivores, who eat relatively easy to digest meat, don't need such long intestines.
A legless critter that is only 3 feet long, and seems to have most of that little body devoted to processing hard to chew and hard to digest material probably wouldn't be too swift, and would likely be a tasty snack for any predators in the region. Thus, I will dub this critter the 'sausage rat', and hope that it can somehow carve itself a niche - perhaps on a remote tropical island with no predators, but lots of tough nuts to chew on.
2007-02-12 03:34:31
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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The animal may not entirely be legless, but may have small or reduced bones and digits. Sharp incisor teeth are a characterstic of order rodentia (Rodents). It could be a beaver (Castor canadensis). Based on the number of chambers in stomach, the diet is predominantly vegetarian.
2007-02-12 05:00:18
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answer #2
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answered by DS 2
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this is just a hypothetical creature for some activity: http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_audesirk_LOE_3/0,5769,232626-,00.html
seeing as there is no legless mammal and mammals are characteristically heterodonts, which means they have different types of teeth adapted for different functions. Somebody already gave you all the answers (about two answers above mine), but remember it's hypothetical.
2007-02-12 05:16:39
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answer #3
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answered by anna 3
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a snake cuz it legless
2007-02-12 01:49:43
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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It's either a fish or a mammal,can't find it though!
2007-02-12 01:58:08
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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shark
2007-02-12 01:50:27
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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allegator????????????
2007-02-12 01:46:21
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answer #7
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answered by frost 2
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