World Builders 1: Session 10 Ecosystems on Land -- Animals and Caloric Requirements E Viau CSULA

Caloric Requirements for the Animals inYour EcoSystems

You should have described your animals in the Land Animals Assignment, including their weights. I have listed some earth animals here in a table which shows the daily caloric requirements for animals of different weights on earth. These estimates are for animals who are tame and resting. Wild animals, hunters, pregnant animals, etc, would need more calories. Find the number of calories your animal would use when resting from the table below.

How to Use These Charts:

Decide how much the animal that you are designing weighs in pounds.
Decide if your animal is a hot blooded or cold blooded. (They have different charts)
Find the chart for your animal.
Go to the column labeled Weight in Pounds.
Look in this column to find the weight range of your animal.
Multiply the animal weight by the number given after Pounds * (this number).
This tells you how many KiloCalories your animal needs per day.
The numbers given are for tame animals. Wild animals generally much more active.
You may adjust your numbers for activity by using the table further down this page.

Warning: I'm still working on the numbers here. There may be HUGE errors! Remember this process, but do not use these numbers on Important Exams!

Warm-Blooded Animals
		Examples
Weight of Animal in Pounds	KiloCalories Needed per Day	Animal in This Weight Range for Example	Weight in Pounds	Kilocalories Needed per Day
0 to half a pound (8 ounces)	Pounds * 160 or ounces * 10	Mouse Hamster	1 ounce 4 ounces	10 40
.5 -5 pounds	Pounds * 45	Rat	1 pound	45
5 -20	Pounds * 40	Cat Big Rabbit	5 pounds 14 pounds	200 560
20 - 80	Pounds * 30	Dog	50 pounds	1500
80- 10,000	Pounds * 15	Goat Human Gorrilla Lion Cow Horse Giraffe	90 150 Pounds 200 Pounds 400 Pounds 1000 Pounds 1500 Pounds 2600 Pounds	1350 2250 3000 6,000 15,000 22,500 39,000
10,000	Pounds * 10	Elephant	10,700 Pounds	107,000

	Pounds * 25	Dolphin	525	13,125

Cold Blooded Animals
Ectotherms (cold blooded animals) need about one tenth as many kilocalories as endotherms (warm blooded animals) of the same weight.

Use the figure for warm blooded animals and divide by 10

Adjusting for the Activity Level of Your Animals

The KiloCalorie numbers given are for tame animals who spend most of their time resting. Wild animals are generally much more active. You may adjust your numbers for activity levels this way:

Resting KiloCalorie requirements	Light Activity	Moderate activity	Heavy Activity	Very Heavy Activity
You will increase the KiloCalories needed by	50%	70%	90%	120%
Write your resting number here	resting number	resting number	resting number	resting number
I will use R to stand for the Resting Number	R * 5 10	R * 7 10	R * 9 10	R * 12 10
Add the numbers in the blue and yellow rows together for each type of activity	Total of: resting number + R * 5 10	Your animals need this many KiloCalories for moderate activity	Your animals need this many KiloCalories for heavy activity	Your animals need this many KiloCalories for very heavy activity
Very athletic animals (race horses, racing huskies) or warm blooded endotherms living in a very cold climate may need up to 6 times the resting requirement.

How to Translate This Information into Pounds of Food Needed per Day:

Both carbohydrates (plant material) and protein (meat) have about 100 kilocalories per ounce. However, food is not all digestible: animals eat bones, fur, plant fibers and stems, so we will take as our values

food = 50 Kilocalories per ounce or

800 Kilocalories per pound (50 Kilocalories * 16 ounces)

Use the table above to find out how many calories your animal needs to eat.

For example, a lion needs 6000 Kilocalories per day.

Divide: 6000 Kilocalories / 800 Kilocalories per pound = 6000 / 800 = 7.5 pounds of meat a day.

Using This Information with the Energy Pyramid:

When you are making an energy pyramid, use the Kilocalories per day to figure out what your animal consumes.