Question

round 1: you are tracking a female lion. determine how many of each prey species she would need to successfully hunt and eat to gain the amount of energy she needs per day (13,500 kcal). remember, an individual lion cannot expend more than 15,000 kcal per hunt. use the following calculations to determine the net energy gained in kilocalories for the table below. lions rest ~90% of each day, allowing for only 1-3 hunting events per day, depending on the size of the prey: it can take more than a day to fully consume a large prey. 1. which is a better way to use their energy: hunting small prey more often or large prey less frequently? explain your reasoning. table with rows: meerkat, warthog, wildebeest, zebra, est; columns: minimum number of prey hunted and consumed, energy cost per prey (kcal -), total energy cost to hunt prey (must expend less than 15,000 kcal/day), energy available from this prey (kcal +), net energy gained (kcal), is this species worthwhile to hunt on your own?; data: meerkat: 4, -3000, -12,000, 5,000, 20,000, no; warthog: 2, -5,000, -10,000, 12,000, 15,000, yes; wildebeest est: 1, -10,000, -10,000, 25,000, 15,000, yes; zebra: 0, -55,000, no energy reserved, no energy reserved, 170,000, no

Explanation:

To determine the better energy - use strategy, we analyze the net energy and hunting costs:

1. For small prey (Meerkat, Warthog):

• Meerkat: Net energy is 20,000 kcal, but total energy cost to hunt is - 12,000 kcal. However, the lion can't expend more than 15,000 kcal per hunt, and it needs to hunt 4 Meerkats (minimum number) to get enough energy. The total energy cost for 4 hunts would be \(4\times(- 3000)=-12,000\) kcal, and the total energy gained is \(4\times5,000 = 20,000\) kcal. But the lion rests 90% of the day, so hunting 4 times a day may be difficult due to time constraints.
• Warthog: Net energy is 15,000 kcal, total energy cost to hunt is - 10,000 kcal, and minimum number of hunts is 2. Total cost for 2 hunts: \(2\times(-5,000)=-10,000\) kcal, total energy gained: \(2\times12,000 = 24,000\) kcal. Still, multiple hunts are needed.

1. For large prey (Wildebeest, Zebra):

• Wildebeest: Net energy is 15,000 kcal, total energy cost to hunt is - 10,000 kcal, and minimum number of hunts is 1. So with one hunt, the lion can get 15,000 kcal (which meets the daily energy need of 13,500 kcal) and the energy cost is - 10,000 kcal, resulting in a net gain of 25,000 - 10,000=15,000 kcal.
• Zebra: Net energy is 170,000 kcal, but the minimum number of hunts is 0 (not a viable prey to hunt as per the table, maybe it's too hard to hunt), and the energy cost is - 55,000 kcal. But the “Is this species worthwhile to hunt?” is “no”, so it's not a good option.

Hunting large prey (like Wildebeest) less frequently is better. Because hunting small prey requires multiple hunts (more energy expenditure in terms of time and effort, even though the per - hunt energy cost seems low, the cumulative cost of multiple hunts and the time constraint due to resting 90% of the day make it less efficient). Hunting a large prey once can meet the daily energy requirement (13,500 kcal) with a single hunt, and the net energy gain is sufficient. The energy cost per large prey hunt is manageable (e.g., Wildebeest has a total energy cost of - 10,000 kcal per hunt, and the energy gained is 25,000 kcal, resulting in a net of 15,000 kcal which is more than the daily need).

Answer:

Hunting large prey less frequently is a better way to use energy. Because hunting large prey (e.g., Wildebeest) can meet the daily energy requirement (13,500 kcal) with a single hunt, and the net energy gain is sufficient. Hunting small prey requires multiple hunts, which involves more energy expenditure in terms of time and effort, and may not be feasible due to the lion's resting time (90% of the day).