Why do animals have diastema

What is diastema? What is its role in rabbits? Biology Animals Animals Overview. May 5, Explanation: As we all know, rabbits are - for the most part - herbivorous animals meaning that they live of vegetables as their main source of nutrition. Related questions What are common mistakes students make with animals? What are some examples of animals? Why are arthropod eyes called "compound"? Question eb07c. Often, herbivores feature ridged molars and jaws capable of moving sideways. Both of these traits help herbivores to grind their food more effectively.

Most herbivores are missing canines entirely, and those that do possess them usually have very small or reduced canines that are not very important for chewing food. Some herbivores have large incisors for clipping or tearing vegetation, but they may only occur on the lower jaw. For example, most deer lack upper incisors and press their lower incisors against their hard, upper palate to rip twigs and branches from trees.

By contrast, horses have both upper and lower incisors that they use to clip vegetation cleanly. Some herbivores have evolved teeth that are no longer involved in feeding at all. For example, the large tusks of elephants are highly modified incisors.

Elephants use their tusks to manipulate items in their environment, dig for water, and defend themselves. Walruses and some pigs also feature incisors that have evolved into tusks used for foraging, defense, and intra-species combat. Omnivores, such as raccoons, opossums, bears, and humans, are animals that consume both plant and animal material.

Accordingly, omnivores have dentition, skulls, and teeth suitable for handling a variety of foods. Most omnivores have evolved different types of teeth, located in different parts of their mouths. Then browse over free courses on OpenLearn and sign up to our newsletter to hear about new free courses as they are released. Every year, thousands of students decide to study with The Open University. Request an Open University prospectus OpenLearn works with other organisations by providing free courses and resources that support our mission of opening up educational opportunities to more people in more places.

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Free learning from The Open University. Featured content. Free courses. All content. Course content. About this free course 10 hours study. Level 1: Introductory. Course rewards. Free statement of participation on completion of these courses. Create your free OpenLearn profile. Course content Course content. Studying mammals: Plant predators Start this free course now.

Free course Studying mammals: Plant predators. Answer Incisors could be used to cut off pieces of food grass or leaves and molars and premolars for chewing the food. View larger image. Figure 2a: adapted from: Hildebrand, M. Figure 2 a Vertical section a single molar tooth of an elephant, with enamel ridges providing a serrated surface.

To the left of this tooth, you can see a small part of the unerupted tooth behind, next in line to replace it. Answer The two animals are the kangaroo, which is a marsupial, and the elephant, a placental mammal. Activity 2 In LoM information is given about the diet and teeth of some other herbivores.

Table 1 Diet and teeth of a selection of herbivores Name Food Teeth tapir chevrotain rabbit hippopotamus. Answer Here is a completed version of Table 1. Table 1 Diet and teeth of a selection of herbivores completed Name Food Teeth tapir leaves mostly, but also fruits and nuts [p. Nip the grass with huge leathery lips, ripping up the leaves with sways of the head [p.