Midterm Exam Prep (2025) – Complete
Questions & Verified Correct Answers.
1) What is a wild animal?
2) What is a domesticated animal?*
1) -undomesticated
-not living under human control
-untamed
2) -direct ancestors have undergone a domestication process
-kept under direct human control
Describe what is meant by domestication*
an evolutionary process during which humans control/supervise:
-the living space
-the care and welfare
-selection of mating partners
-reproduction
as the process continues, the species is genetically altered from its wild ancestral form
1) What is a tame animal?
2) What is a feral animal?*
1) an animal that has been familiarized with humans so as to be tractable (easy to
control/influence)
-can apply to 'wild' or 'domesticated' animals
2) -an animal that lives in the wild state, but whose ancestors had undergone a domestication
process (e.g. feral cats)
What does wildlife mean?*
-mammals: monotremes (eg platypus), marsupials (eg kangaroo), placentals or eutherian
mammals (eg primates)
-birds
-that are undomesticated, not living under human control, and untamed
,1) What is food?
2) What's in food?*
1) nutrition, nutrients, non-nutritive components
2) nutrient groups, essential nutrients
Define nutrition*
-the process whereby an animal gets and processes portions of its external environment (food)
for the continued functioning of its internal metabolism
-the study of the nutrients in food, that each animal must obtain from its environment,, and
how these nutrients are used to support maintenance, growth, and reproduction
What are the steps in the process of feeding?*
-prehension
-ingestion
-digestion
-absorption
-elimination
1) What is prehension?
2) What is ingestion?
3) What is digestion?*
1) grasping/seizing food items
2) intake of food into the body
3) break down of large complex food compounds into smaller, simpler compounds
1) Examples of mechanical digestion?
2) Examples of chemical digestion?
3) Examples of microbial digestion?*
1) mouth (by chewing), stomach (muscular contractions of the gut), gizzard (in birds)
2) mouth (salivary enzymes), stomach (gastric enzymes, acids), proventriculus and gizzard (in
birds), small intestine
3) rumen (foregut fermenters/ruminant herbivores), caecum (hindgut fermenters/monogastric
herbivores), crop (birds)
1) What is absorption?
2) What is elimination?*
, 1) simpler, broken down nutrient molecules entering the blood or lymph through the GIT
2) removal from the body of undigested and unabsorbed food, and waste products (feces, urine,
or excreta)
1) What is food?
2) What are nutrients?*
1) material taken in by the animal, and which contains one or more nutrients
2) organic and inorganic chemical compounds in food, required by the animal to support
maintenance, growth, and reproduction
1) What are the nutrient groups?
2) What is the nutrient composition of foods like?*
1) -water
-carbohydrates (sugars) (CHO)
-proteins (amino acids) (CHON [S,P])
-fats/lipids (fatty acids) (CHO [N,P])
-vitamins (CHO [N, S])
-minerals
2) -some contain up to six nutrient groups (e.g. milk)
-some only one group (e.g. salt)
1) What are organic nutrients?
2) What are inorganic nutrients?
3) What are energy-yielding nutrients?
4) Is energy a nutrient?*
1) -contain C in their structures (CC or CH bonds)
-carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins
2) water, minerals
3) carbohydrates, fats, proteins
4) No, it is derived from nutrients
1) What are the different sources of water?
2) Examples of free water?
3) Examples of dietary water?
4) What is metabolic water?
5) What is unique about the San Joaquin Kangaroo rat?*
1) free water (drinking water), dietary water (water in food), and metabolic water
2) lakes, rivers