No Responses to “In Terms Of Ecology, And Position Of Niches, What Are The American Counterparts Of These African Mammals?”

1. Proud says:

   February 12, 2011 at 1:26 pm

   Like what Cal said, but with the American alligator for slender snouted crocodile.

2. Cal King says:

   February 12, 2011 at 5:17 pm

   The wolf used to roam California, but it has been exterminated
   The leopard’s counterpart is the jaguar, which roamed California until the 19th century.
   The American lion was a subspecies of the African lion. It vanished along with the other large mammals, such as the short-faced bear and mammoths at the end of the last ice age, when a comet hit the North American continent, ending the ice age and causing mass extinction of the larger mammals which were adapted to the cold.
   There are fossil bison in the La Brea tar pits of Los Angeles. They suffered the same fate as the American lion.
   Widebeests are similar to the elk and bison, which roamed North America.
   Nile crocodile = American crocodile
   There is no North American equivalent of hyaenas, although the wolf would be similar since they hunt in packs and they also scavenge.
   Jackals as similar to coyotes.
   There is no “slender snouted crocodile” in Africa. You are probaby thinking of the gharial, which lives in India.
   Not all unfilled niches are occupied everywhere.

3. J Alves says:

   February 12, 2011 at 10:24 pm

   North America lost a great deal of its megafauna about 10,000 years ago–the latest evidence points to an comet or asteroid impact that may have hit in the icefields/glaciers of that time
   african wild dog–grey wolf
   leopard-jaguar or cougar (maybe saber toothed tiger before extinction)
   lion–no contemporary equivalent but there were american lions that went extinct (or outside of the cat family, then grey wolves)
   zebra- feral horses today or american horses before the extinction
   buffalo –bison
   wildebeest–maybe pronghorn antelope (or elk or deer–less likely because these are mainly forest edge dwellers)
   nile crocodile– american crocodile
   hyena–no contemporary but dire wolf may have been similar or grey wolves
   jackals–coyote

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