Surprising Facts About Biology

When it comes to biology, what an animal eats is one of the pivotal aspects of it, but to the mere surprise, the evolution of diet is one part which had not been studied properly across the animal kingdom till now. Scientists from the University of Arizona have come up with several unexpected findings and reports. The study covered an array of points from taking a deep dive into the evolutionary history related to more than one million animal species and went back to 800 million years, this was the time when first animals appeared on earth.
The study which got published in the journal Evolution Letters revealed and threw light on several surprising key insights.
Many species which are living today are carnivorous which means that they eat other animals for their living, studies have traced this diet back which was like a common ancestor approx. 800 million years ago.
A doctoral student Román-Palacios said that their study is the largest study conducted so far which examines the evolution of diet all over the whole animal tree of life.
Another concept known as phylogeny, is there which teaches that all species can be classified based on their evolutionary relationships. Organisms are grouped into taxa, which further defines their interrelationships in several levels.
The survey also suggests that across all the animals, carnivores are the most common ones, which include 63% of species. Rest 32% are herbivorous, and we humans belong to a very small minority which is just 3%.
So, the question arises if the first animal was a carnivore, then what did it prey on?
The authors suggest that the answer lies with protists that include choanoflagellates who are tiny, single-celled organisms and are regarded to be the closest living relatives of animals.
Wiens said that the ancient creature mostly related to all the animals living today and despite plants might have eaten bacteria and other protists.
Biology has embedded many such facts inside it which are very surprising, one just needs to know and read about them.

By: Prerana Sharma
Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190822165028.htm