What animals are nocturnal? Crepuscular and nocturnal animals How nocturnal animals navigate

Research

« Why do some animals only hunt at night?

Performed: Golovach Milana, student of grade 2B

MKOU "Novoozersk Secondary School"

MKOU "Novoozersk Secondary School"

1. Introduction

1.1.Relevance.

1.2. Purpose of the study.

1.3. Research objectives.

1.4. Research hypotheses.

1.5.Object of research.

1.6. Subject of research.

2. Main part

2.1. Research methods.

2.2. Collection of received information.

3. Conclusion.

3.1. Conclusions.

3.2.Prospects

4. List of references.

5. Applications.

Subject research: “Why do some animals hunt only at night?”

1. Introduction:

1.1.Relevance.

I chose this topic because I am interested in knowing what makes some animals hunt at night and be nocturnal. After all, it’s uncomfortable at night: it’s dark, everyone is sleeping. Why are these animals not active during the day, when there are many advantages that attract them to the night? I'm interested to know which animals are nocturnal. I decided to do research that would help me answer my questions.

1.2.Target research:

Find out: why are some animals active only at night?

1.3.Tasks research.

1.Identify methods that will help test hypotheses.

2. Study special literature, from which you can learn as much as possible about animals that are nocturnal.

3.Analyze the information received and draw conclusions.

1.4.Research hypotheses:

Let's assume that in the dark it is easier for an animal to get close to its prey. Perhaps it's easier to go unnoticed at night. Let's assume that there is less competition for prey at night. What if it’s hot during the day, so it’s harder for animals to get food, but at night it’s cooler and therefore it’s easier, more convenient to get food. What if some animals are afraid of sunlight and have difficulty seeing during the day?

1.5.An object research: nocturnal animals.

1.6.Item research: benefits of nocturnal lifestyle of animals.

2.Main part:

2.1. Research methods.

The following were used to confirm or refute the hypotheses: methods:

Think for yourself.

Ask adults.

View books.

Go to computer

2.2.Collection of received information.

In the course of studying the collected information, we were able to find out the following:

Most animals lead an exclusively diurnal lifestyle - they sleep at night and are active during the day. But there are also animals that are nocturnal - they sleep in caves, burrows, and trees during the day, and at night they go out in search of food.

Night animals are predators take advantage of the cover of night to hunt for prey while remaining invisible. A animals - prey also use the darkness to hide. For example: lions, which can be equally active both during the day and at night, prefer night hunting, since their main prey: zebras and antelopes, are diurnal and have poor vision at night. And many species of small rodents are active at night because the birds of prey that eat them are mainly active during the day.

Generally at night less rivalry because of the extraction. Animals that eat the same food in the same territory, but at different times of the day, are not competitors with each other and occupy different ecological niches. For example: hawks (hunt during the day), and owls (hunt at night).

For inhabitants of arid places are characterized by a nocturnal lifestyle, since in the absence of the sun the evaporation of water from the body is noticeably reduced. Therefore, nighttime in desert climates has the added benefit of being cooler at night. Desert inhabitants flee from the scorching rays of the sun. Many of them are nocturnal. During the day, when the sun is hotter, these animals find refuge in deep, cool burrows. For example: nocturnal lizard - gecko. During the hot day, many animals accumulate energy and sleep, and in the cool night they go out for prey.

Some nocturnal animals can see equally well both in the dark and in bright light - for example , cats and ferrets. Other go blind in the light- this is, for example,

galagidae and most bats.

Nocturnal lifestyle of animals - behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleep during the day. Animals that are nocturnal have very good hearing and smell, specially adapted vision.

Nocturnal animals have a special ability to adapt, which allows them to function at night. Some nocturnal creatures, including owls and cats, have specially shaped eyes and special cells that allow them to see in very low light. Bats, the only mammals that can fly, are also usually nocturnal, and some species of bats navigate in the dark using a unique sound location system called echolocation. Bats make sounds that are reflected from nearby objects, and the sound waves returning carry information about the location and size of these objects. For nocturnal animals, good hearing and sense of smell are also important. Some animals secrete a special liquid from their glands, leaving behind an odorous trail that helps them find their way back in the dark.

3. Conclusion:

3.1. Conclusions.

After analyzing the information received, I made the following conclusions:

There are indeed animals that are nocturnal. These animals have a special ability to adapt, which allows them to function at night.

All of the five hypotheses were confirmed :

The reasons that some animals are active at night and sleep during the day are as follows:

In the dark it is easier for an animal to get close to its prey.

At night it is easier for animals to go unnoticed.

To stay invisible, nocturnal predatory animals hunt for prey only under the cover of darkness. To hide, Animals also use darkness - production.

As a rule, it is there is less competition over prey at night

For animals of desert places water conservation is important in organism. During the hot day, many desert animals accumulate energy and sleep. And on a cool night they go out for prey.

Some animals are afraid of sunlight, they see poorly during the day, so they are forced to lead a nocturnal lifestyle. Most bats go blind in the light.

3.2.Prospects:

IN In the future, the study can be continued in order to identify in each group of animals those families that are nocturnal.

4 .Bibliography:

· The first school encyclopedia. Animal world / M. Rosman 2008

· Encyclopedia Pochemuchki. Animals /M. Swallowtail 2012

· I am a researcher. Workbook for primary schoolchildren. /Samara"Fedorov", 2012

· Internet resources:

www. sivatherium. *****/postcard/zahod/zahod. htm

www. ***** › ... › Chiang Mai Night Safari

millerovo. *****/news/nejer_d_nochnye.../348

www. ***** / zhivotnye/

5. Applications

Bat

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As soon as it gets dark, a nightjar appears on the edges and forest clearings, on forest roads and clearings, and in clearings. This bird sat all day, clinging to a branch or stump. Twilight and night are the nightjar's hunting time, and its prey is insects.

The nightjar has a huge mouth and a very small beak: something like narrow horny lips. Rows of long bristles sit along the edges of the mouth. Thanks to these bristles, the nightjar's mouth becomes even larger. With such a mouth it is difficult to take prey from the ground, but it is very convenient to grab insects on the fly. And the nightjar is an excellent catcher of flying insects.

This bird is a most skilled flyer. What can she do in the air! Somersaults in every possible way, soars up, glides down. It flies over the bushes. The bird seems to be dancing in the air.

The nightjar is also called the night owl, and this name is much more successful than the awkward nickname “nightjar.”

"Nightjar" means "milking goats." Well, what kind of bird can milk a goat! And such tales were told about the nightjar.

Sometimes in the evenings the nightjar circles around cows, sheep, goats, and sits down on the ground at their very feet. At this time, the bird hunts for flies and other insects that have gathered near the livestock. Hence the old belief: the bird sits near the cattle to milk it. The cow seems too big for a small bird. Well, let him milk the goat. So the strange name “nightjar” appeared.

Nightjars destroy many moths, including harmful ones. They are good protectors of our forests.

With darkness, owls also fly out to hunt. The long-eared owl hooted. In the old park, a little Scops Owl heard “I’m sleeping, I’m sleeping...”. The owl hooted and laughed shrilly.

Owls call in different ways. They meow and purr like cats, laugh like a person. They can scream pitifully and tearfully, and then it seems that a small child is crying. The owl moans and groans like a sick person, squeaks like a rat, and whistles hoarsely. An unaccustomed person can be very frightened when he hears owl calls in the forest at night.

Owls are nocturnal birds. They have soft plumage and their flight is silent. The huge eyes are facing forward, and this gives the owl a very characteristic appearance: no other bird has a head like the owl. An owl's pupils, like a cat's, can dilate greatly, or they can narrow to a barely noticeable slit.

An owl flies silently over the bushes and listens carefully. The mouse squeaked slightly and the owl stopped. Fluttering her wings, she seemed to hang in the air. She listened and fell down: tenacious claws grabbed the prey.

An owl will catch many hundreds of mice over the summer. It is believed that it destroys up to a thousand mice and voles per summer. A vole eats a kilogram of grain over the summer. Each owl protects us about a ton of bread. Is it still necessary to prove the great benefits of this bird?

For an eagle owl, a mouse is too small a prey: it is looking for larger game. Hares and large forest birds - that's what he hunts for. The eagle owl manages to grab prickly hedgehogs and catches ferrets. In winter, during a hunger strike, he even attacks foxes. You can’t hide from an eagle owl even in a tree: the night robber grabs sleeping crows and hazel grouse. He will not spare his relatives - owls, he will grab a gaping bat.

A night thunderstorm for all living things, the eagle owl does not always feel good during the day. Seeing a sleeping eagle owl, magpies, crows and other birds attack him. In response to their cry, more and more birds flock, and they all jump on the eagle owl and howl, howl... And the eagle owl hastily runs away, hides in a thicket of young fir trees, and tries to hide among the dense branches. The day is not his time...

Not all owls are night hunters. The hawk owl hunts in the light, especially at dawn and dusk. Its flight is not as silent as that of other owls: its plumage is more rigid. At night the hawk owl sleeps.

The bat is not at all related to ordinary mice. She was nicknamed the mouse simply because she was small, about the size of a mouse. The bat's front legs are remarkable. Their bones are highly elongated, and a thin leathery membrane is stretched between them. This membrane stretches back: to the hind legs, to the tail. A huge wing formed.

By spreading the toes of its front legs wide apart, the bat stretches the membrane. Quickly waving her front legs, she flies.

Bats are good flyers. They flutter like butterflies and make the sharpest turns. But this is not surprising: you never know how many clever flyers there are. When flying in the dark, a bat will never hit anything. While circling near the tree, it will not catch a protruding branch, or even a leaf.

Maybe her eyes are too sharp? It doesn't look like it: they are small, and night vision requires a large eye. Remember the eyes of an owl.

A bat with its eyes taped shut flies no worse than a sighted one. One scientist did such an experiment. He taped the bat's eyes shut and let it fly around the room. The mouse flew without touching the walls. The scientist stretched strings of bells around the room. The mouse flew between the threads and did not touch any of them: the bells never rang. The blind mouse somehow recognized that there was an obstacle nearby, and what kind of obstacle it was - a thin thread.

A bird released into a room during the day hits the window glass: it does not see it. The bat will not touch the glass, but at night it is dark and the glass is not visible.

Apparently it's not the bat's vision that helps.

“Bats have a very well developed sense of touch,” the scientist decided. “They sense objects at a distance...”

While flying, the bat pushes the air apart. Air waves arise. When they bump into something, they are reflected. By feeling the shocks of reflected air waves, you can learn about any obstacles on the way without the help of your eyes.

On the wings and large ears of the bat there are many fine sensitive hairs. The root of each hair is covered by a nerve ring. Here it is, an apparatus for perceiving air waves: shocks are transmitted to the nerve through the hairs.

It seemed that the issue had been resolved. But...

The bat's ear canal was sealed. She was sighted. She still has sensitive hairs. The mouse was only temporarily deaf. And such a mouse, flying, began to touch all sorts of obstacles. An amazing thing: a blind mouse “sees” obstacles, a deaf mouse does not notice them.

More experience. The bat's mouth and nose were covered. They were not sealed tightly: otherwise the animal would have suffocated. The mouse flew uncertainly. At these moments she looked like a person walking on a dark night through an unfamiliar forest.

Just a few years ago, the secret of the bat was revealed.

The mouse does not see obstacles and does not feel them from a distance. She hears them. Echoes are what allow the bat to fly in the dark.

All sound is vibrations of air, water, solid medium, everything through which sound is transmitted. These vibrations can be of different frequencies. The higher the vibration frequency, the higher the sound, the thinner it is, so to speak. There are sounds of such height, so subtle, that they are no longer accessible to our ears: we cannot hear them. Such sounds are called ultrasounds.

Sounds are reflected from those obstacles that the sound wave encounters. An ordinary echo is an example of such a reflection.

A bat can emit special ultrasounds: a squeak so thin that we cannot hear it. These squeaks are very short: each lasts only about one two-hundredth of a second. Sitting quietly, the bat also squeaks, but not often: only ten times per second. When flying, it squeaks thirty times per second. And when it flies up to some obstacle, it begins to squeak even more often: fifty to sixty times per second. The closer the obstacle, the more often the mouse squeaks.

Ultrasound is reflected from any obstacles in its path. The animal hears these reflected sounds - ultra-echo. It serves as a signal to him. This echo is not distant: it sounds no further than three and a half meters. Flying ten meters from a tree, a bat will not know about it, and it doesn’t need to: after all, such a tree is far from it. An echo will sound nearby and alert the mouse to an obstacle.

They taped the animal's ears, and it cannot hear the ultra-echo. They closed his mouth and nostrils, he hears, but his ultra-squeak becomes weak: after all, his mouth and nose are closed.

Ultrasound is what allows a bat to fly in the dark, to “see with its ears” not only obstacles, but also insects flying near it.

There are many tales told about bats, many are afraid of them and few people love them. Bats are useful animals that destroy many harmful insects. They need to be protected in every possible way.

Hedgehogs, ferrets and many other small animals hunt primarily at night. At night, hares, wild goats, and wild boars feed. But they have few adaptations to night life, and they could perfectly feed during the day. At night it is easier to protect yourself from the enemy, which is why they hide during the day and come out to feed at night or at dusk.

Our cat is a nocturnal animal. Her pupils dilate greatly in the dark and contract in the light. The cat hears perfectly, and the retractable claws and pads on the fingers allow it to silently sneak up on its prey.

Having come from the forest to a house, living for many centuries with humans, becoming a pet, the cat has not lost its habits. She, like her wild relatives, prefers the night.

Nocturnal behavior in animals is a form of behavior that is characterized by the animal being active during the night and sleeping or inactive during the day. Nocturnal animals lead a completely opposite lifestyle to animals.

Nocturnal creatures, as a rule, have highly developed senses of hearing, smell, and vision specially adapted for darkness. These features may help animals such as the American corn armyworm butterflies ( Helicoverpa Zea) successfully avoid . Some animals, such as cats and ferrets, have eyes that can adapt to both low light levels and bright daylight. Others, such as galagidae and some bats, can only function at night.

Many nocturnal animals, including tarsiers and some species of owls, have large eyes relative to their body size to compensate for low light levels at night. The large corneas relative to the size of the eyes of these animals allow them to increase their visual sensitivity in low light conditions. The nocturnal lifestyle of animals helps wasps, such as Apoica flavissima, avoid searching for food in intense sunlight.

Diurnal animals, including squirrels and songbirds, are active during the day. species such as rabbits, skunks, cats, tigers, and hyenas, which are often mistakenly called nocturnal animals. Leading animal species such as fossas and lions are active both during the day and at night. While most people are diurnal, for various personal and social/cultural reasons, some people are temporarily or permanently nocturnal. The most famous nocturnal creatures include some species from the family, and owls, which have well-developed senses (including night vision).

Origin

Although it is difficult to say whether the first animals were nocturnal or diurnal, there is a leading hypothesis in the biology community known as the "bottleneck". She postulates that millions of years ago, many ancestors of modern mammals evolved nocturnal features to avoid contact with the many diurnal animals.

Most groups have eye patterns that predictably coincide with their activity times. Nocturnal vertebrates tend to have large corneas relative to eye size as an adaptation to increase visual sensitivity in the dark. Conversely, diurnal vertebrates tend to exhibit smaller corneas relative to eye size as an adaptation to improve visual acuity.

In contrast, several studies have concluded that many exhibit typical night eye features, regardless of the timing of activity. However, a recent study proves that new statistical methods about eye shape can accurately predict behavioral patterns in mammals, including species that are equally likely to be active at any time of day or night.

After a detailed analysis of eye structure and activity patterns in mammals, using a broad comparative sample of 266 species, it was determined that the eye shapes of mixed-living mammals completely overlap with nocturnal and diurnal species. In addition, most diurnal and crepuscular mammals have an eye structure that is most similar to that of nocturnal species and lizards. The only mammals that fall out of this picture are anthropoids, which have a similar eye structure to diurnal birds and lizards. These results provide further evidence for a nocturnal bottleneck in early mammals.

Nightlife as an adaptation for survival:

Competition for resources

The nocturnal activity of animals is one of the forms of niche differentiation, where the niche of a species is divided not by the amount of available resources, but by the amount of time (i.e., the temporal division of the ecological niche). Hawks and owls can hunt in the same field or meadow, on the same rodents, without conflict, because hawks are diurnal and owls are nocturnal birds. This means that they do not compete with each other for prey.

Predation

Nocturnal activity is a form of camouflage to avoid or increase predation. One of the reasons that they prefer to hunt in the dark is the poor night vision of their prey (zebras, antelopes, impalas, etc.). Many species of small rodents, such as the greater Japanese field mouse ( Apodemus speciosus), are active at night because most of the dozens of birds of prey that hunt them are diurnal. There are many diurnal species that exhibit some nocturnal behavior. For example, many seabirds and sea turtles congregate in breeding grounds or colonies only at night to reduce the risk of predation for themselves and/or their offspring.

Water conservation

Avoiding the heat of the day is another reason for a nocturnal lifestyle. This behavior is especially true in arid environments such as , where activity at night greatly reduces the loss of precious water during the hot, dry daytime period. This adaptation increases osmoregulation. Conserving water is also another reason why lions prefer to hunt at night. Many plant species native to arid biomes have adapted so that their flowers open only at night, when the intense heat of the sun cannot dry out and destroy their moist, delicate inflorescences. These flowers are pollinated by other nocturnal creatures - bats.

Nocturnal lifestyle in captivity:

Zoos

In zoos, nocturnal animals are usually kept in special enclosures with night lighting to shift their normal sleep-wake cycle to maintain activity during hours when there are visitors.

Pets

Hedgehogs are mostly nocturnal. Jerzy and sugar glider are just two of many nocturnal species that are kept as (exotic) pets. Cats have adapted to domestication so that any animal, whether a stray cat or a pampered house cat, can change its activity level at will, becoming nocturnal or diurnal in response to them or their owners' routines. Cats typically exhibit crepuscular behavior bordering on nocturnal, and are most active in hunting or scouting at dusk and dawn.

Examples of nocturnal animals

Some nocturnal animals include :

• mammals: bat-eared fox, red fox, dingo, caracal, puma, opossum, wombat, raccoon, spectacled bear, Tasmanian devil, hedgehog, porcupine, possum and many others;
• birds: There are many species of birds that are active at night. Some, such as owls and nightjars, are primarily nocturnal, while others perform specific tasks, such as nocturnal migration. Some bird species that are usually active at night include: Northern brown kiwi, barn owl, great eagle owl, short-eared owl, spotted owl, spotted owl, North American owl, barn owl, short-tailed owl, owl parrot and many others;
• And : red-eyed tree frog, blunt-snouted crocodile, Guiana water toad, leopard geckos, etc.;
• (including insects): cockroaches, scorpions, hermit crabs, tarantulas, fireflies, etc.

What kinds of nocturnal animals there are, you will learn from this article.

What animals are nocturnal?

Nocturnal lifestyle of animals- This is behavior that is characterized by high activity at night and sleep during the day. It is worth noting that absolutely all types of nocturnal animals have excellent hearing and charm, and specially adapted vision.

There are some reasons that contribute to the fact that some animals are active at night and sleep during the day:

• Competition for food resources. Animals that eat the same food on the same piece of land, but at different times, are not competitors with each other and occupy distinctive ecological niches. An example would be hawks, which hunt during the day, and representatives of owls, which are active at night.
• Stealth. It is much easier for a predator to get close to its prey in the dark. Let's give some examples. Lions, which are equally active at night and during the day, still prefer to hunt at night. This is due to the fact that the victims of these animals - antelopes and zebras - are diurnal animals, so they see poorly at night. And the opposite example: most species of small rodents are active at night, because birds of prey, their enemies, are predominantly active during the daytime.
• Maintaining water balance in the body. Inhabitants of arid places are active at night due to the fact that the lack of influence of sunlight on the animal’s body significantly reduces the evaporation of water from their body. This is why any desert seems lifeless during the day.

Nocturnal animals list.

Of course, most of all living organisms actively live and hunt only during the day, and rest only at night. However, there are a small number of fish in the world that are exclusively nocturnal. Among them are representatives of the class of mammals.

What makes them nocturnal?

The fact is that it is in the dark that competition for prey noticeably weakens. But weak competition is only half the battle. For example, in desert places the night is cooler than a hot day, which, in turn, additionally encourages all lovers of night forays to engage in active activities.

In addition, night activity is the most suitable time for defenseless mammals (for example, voles and mice).

The most famous mammals that are nocturnal

Badger

These representatives of the order can be found at dusk, at night and at sunset. Some badgers living in remote places sometimes come out of their hiding places during the daytime.

The biological clock of these mammals is designed in such a way that as soon as the sun goes down, badgers immediately leave their holes in search of food. In the cold season, these, like bears, plunge into winter sleep. To avoid being disturbed, badgers block all exits from their burrows with earth and leaves.

These are perhaps one of the most famous twilight-night mammals of the insectivorous order. Anyone who has ever tamed a hedgehog in Russia is well aware of its nocturnal activity: characteristic stomping, snorting and rustling.

It is not recommended to domesticate hedgehogs! The fact is that these animals are carriers of ticks that pose a danger to humans (for example, the ixodid tick). Moreover, these mammals practically do not live in captivity.

In nature, these animals spend the entire daylight hours in their shelters, hidden from prying eyes. Their burrows can be located both in secluded corners of the forest and in personal plots. There, hedgehogs sleep all day long, curled up in a tight ball.

As soon as dusk falls, hedgehogs wake up and begin nocturnal activity. In search of prey, they patrol their own hunting grounds. The diet of these animals consists of frogs, earthworms, insect larvae and voles. In winter, hedgehogs go into suspended animation.

The bats

Bats or chiropterans are exclusively nocturnal animals. While badgers and hedgehogs can be seen from time to time during the day, bats are not. They spend the entire daylight hours in caves, basements, abandoned houses - places where the sun's rays never reach.

Bats are the only representatives of the class of mammals that can fly.

With the onset of dusk, bats begin their night hunt in full combat readiness. They feed on small and large insects. They navigate in space thanks to sound location.

Bats make high-frequency sounds that help them navigate. If any obstacle appears in the path of the ultrasonic wave, it is reflected in the opposite direction. The bat receives the high-frequency signal that has returned to it, realizing that it needs to change the direction of its flight.