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Gizzard vs. teeth, it's a tie: food-processing efficiency in herbivorous birds and mammals and implications for dinosaur feeding strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Julia Fritz ,
Jürgen Hummel ,
Ellen Kienzle ,
Oliver Wings ,
W. Jürgen Streich  and
Marcus Clauss
Julia Fritz
Affiliation:
Institute of Physiology, Physiological Chemistry and Animal Nutrition, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Schönleutnerstr. 8, 85764 Oberschleiβheim, Germany. E-mail: fritz_julia@yahoo.de
Jürgen Hummel
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Science, Animal Nutrition Group, University of Bonn, Germany
Ellen Kienzle
Affiliation:
Institute of Physiology, Physiological Chemistry and Animal Nutrition, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Schönleutnerstr. 8, 85764 Oberschleiβheim, Germany
Oliver Wings
Affiliation:
Museum of Natural History, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
W. Jürgen Streich
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin, Germany
Marcus Clauss*
Affiliation:
Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. E-mail: mclauss@vetclinics.uzh.ch
*
∗Corresponding author
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Abstract

Particle size reduction is a primary means of improving efficiency in herbivores. The mode of food particle size reduction is one of the main differences between herbivorous birds (gizzard) and mammals (teeth). For a quantitative comparison of the efficiency of food comminution, we investigated mean fecal particle sizes (MPS) in 14 herbivorous bird species and compared these with a data set of 111 non-ruminant herbivorous mammal species. In general MPS increased with body mass, but there was no significant difference between birds and mammals, suggesting a comparable efficiency of food processing by gizzards and chewing teeth. The results lead to the intriguing question of why gizzard systems have evolved comparatively rarely among amniote herbivores. Advantages linked to one of the two food comminution systems must, however, be sought in different effects other than size reduction itself. In paleoecological scenarios, the evolution of “dental batteries,” for example in ornithopod dinosaurs, should be considered an advantage compared to absence of mastication, but not compared to gizzard-based herbivory.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , Fall 2011 , pp. 577 - 586
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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