Name: ______Period: ______

Life as a Hunter

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. There are ample prey species available, but just living and breathing comes at a cost of approximately 3,000 kcal/day. This means, that regardless of her hunting success, she will utilize 3,000 kcal/day 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 expend more than 15,000 kcal for each hunt. Your “kcal cash” will represent this useable amount of energy.

Materials: 10- 1,000 kcal cash 10- 500 kcal cash

1. What is the net kcal a lioness must consume to survive? Hint: Energy consumed – energy used (for resting metabolic rate) = net energy

Show all work here:

Listed below are four prey species lions will hunt, and the costs and benefits to hunting each type of food source.

Total energy cost to hunt & kill Total energy available per kill Mass of prey item (kcal) (kcal) Meerkat 0.77 kg -3,000 +5,000 Warthog 60 kg -5,000 +15,000 Wildebeest 265 kg -10,000 +25,000 Zebra 310 kg -20,000 +60,000

Round 1: You are tracking a female lion. Determine how many of each prey species she would need to successfully hunt and eat to gain the amount of net energy (kcal) she needs per day (see answer to #1). Remember, she only has 15000 kcal in reserve to hunt. Use the following calculation to determine the number of kilocalories for the table below.

Net energy = [(number of prey hunted x energy cost) + daily energy cost] + (number of prey hunted x energy available)

Minimum Energy Energy cost to Daily energy Can you hunt number of prey available from Net energy hunt this prey cost this species on hunted and this prey gained (-) (kcal) your own? consumed (+) Meerkat -3000

Warthog -3000

Wildebeest -3000

Zebra -3000

2. For each of the prey species listed, what is the likelihood of that many prey being in the area?

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3. Lions rest ~90% of the time. Which is a better way to use their energy – hunting small prey more often or large prey less frequently?

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4. What strategies must you use to capture a larger prey item?

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5. Hunting can be dangerous for both predator and prey. What negative consequences might a lion encounter from hunting larger prey versus smaller prey?

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Performance Assessment: You just witnessed the female you were tracking hunting a zebra with other females. Using your “kcal cash,” show whether hunting solo or in groups is more effective. Your teacher will provide you with the next data set once you have defended your claim regarding effective hunting behavior.

Teacher approval: ______

Now that you have successfully defended your claim, complete the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning below.

Claim: What do you know? Write a simple statement as to whether hunting solo or in groups is most effective.

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Evidence: How do you know what you know? Summarize your evidence as presented to the teacher.

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Reasoning: How does your evidence support your claim?

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