Life as a Hunter

Life as a Hunter Part 1

Re-read the Background Information:

Life is challenging for a female lion in Etosha National Park. If a female’s body size is approximately 130kg, she must consume 13,500 kcal/day to survive and succeed in the environment in which she lives. There are plenty of prey species available, but just living and breathing costs a significant amount of energy every day. This means that regardless of her hunting success, she will utilize energy for her resting metabolic rate. All animals have a reserve of energy stored as large molecules in their cells that they can use for activities throughout the day. Female lions have approximately 15,000 kcal stored, therefore when hunting, they cannot use more than 15,000 kcal for each hunt.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following activities would contribute to the resting metabolic rate?

• hunting

• breathing

• running

• playing

Multiple Select

What are some reasons why a lion would not want to use all 15,000 kcal of energy on hunting? Select all that apply.

• She won't have enough energy left over for other activities she needs to do throughout the day.

• She won't have enough energy left for her resting metabolic rate.

• She will have to eat 30,000 kcal to make up for the energy lost.

• She could become too weak to hunt and die.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is true about how many of each prey a lion hunts per day?

• The more energy available from the prey the more of that prey they must hunt.

• The less energy cost to hunt the prey the less of that prey they must hunt.

• The more net energy the prey provides the more of that prey they must hunt.

• The energy cost to hunt the prey must be less than the energy the lion has stored.

Multiple Choice

What is net energy gain?

• Energy gained by eating the prey

• Energy gained by eating the prey minus the energy lost by hunting the prey

• Energy gained by eating the prey plus energy lost by hunting the prey

• Number of prey hunted multiplied by the energy available from the prey

Multiple Choice

Based on the Life as a Hunter Lab, what is the requirement for an animal to be beneficial for a lion to hunt alone?

• energy cost must be more than 13,500 kcal

• total energy gained must be more than 100,000 kcal

• net energy gained must be more than 13,500 kcal

• energy available from the prey must be less than 170,000 kcal

Multiple Choice

Based on the Life as a Hunter Lab, which of the prey did not give an individual lion enough energy to survive?

• meerkat

• warthog

• wildebeest

• zebra

Multiple Select

Based on the Life as a Hunter Lab, which animals provide enough energy to make it worthwhile for a lion to hunt alone? Select all that apply.

• meerkat

• warthog

• wildebeest

• zebra

Multiple Choice

Based on Life as a Hunter Lab, which of the prey had an energy cost that was too high for a lion to hunt alone?

• meerkat

• warthog

• wildebeest

• zebra

Multiple Choice

Which of the following ways for a lion to hunt is the most energy efficient?

• Hunting smaller prey less often

• Hunting smaller prey more often

• Hunting larger prey less often

• Hunting larger prey more often

Multiple Choice

How might a lion go about hunting larger prey that would normally cost too much energy to hunt?

• They don't hunt larger prey.

• They could hunt the prey in groups.

• They could hunt the prey only after they have had a big meal so they have more available energy to expend.

• They could hunt the prey only when they are starving and really need a lot of energy.