EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The fastest lions are able to catch food and eat, so they survive and reproduce, and gradually, faster lions make up more and more of the population. The fastest zebras are able to escape the lions, so they survive and reproduce, and gradually, faster zebras make up more and more of the population.

Detailed explanation-2: -Because lions are the predators for many species, zebras included, the populations of these species would dramatically increase if lions were to go extinct.

Detailed explanation-3: -The lions depend on the zebra as their main food source; so without any zebra, the lion population will exhibit uninhibited decline. Interactions between zebra and lions (’hunts’) negatively impact the zebra population and positively impact the lion population.

Detailed explanation-4: -Niche: Lions hunt large hoofed animals, such as Zebras. They also scavenge on smaller prey when necessary. By preying on zebras, lions act as a limiting factor for the zebras. Because zebras only make up on average about 20% of a lion’s diet, lion populations would not be as affected by the removal of zebras.

Detailed explanation-5: -Whether it is a roadrunner swallowing a lizard, a blue crab eating a fish, an American Egret catching a perch, a shark investigating a surface disturbance that could be a meal, or a man rounding up a cow for slaughter, the predator kills to provide food for itself or its family.