The strongest evidence for meat and marrow eating are butchery marks found on bones. The base composition (frequency of the nucleotides A, C, G and T) was analysed at the three codon-positions of the PCG-mtDNA dataset (S3 Appendix). This trend is mainly explained by a strong bias observed at third codon-positions, in which the Vulpini taxa have more guanines (G3 8.39% versus 7.30%) and less adenines (A3 37.18% versus 37.80%) than the Canini. Consider this problem in, for example, boreal or temperate climates, where winter can cover ground vegetation in snow and tree's will reduce foliage. The eight mitogenomes here assembled from SRA data are shown in green. What happens if a professor has funding for a PhD student but the PhD student does not come? DNA samples were quantified with a Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer using the Qubit dsDNA HS Assay Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). How plants evolved into carnivores | Nature BLAST searches in NCBI show that the reference genome sequenced for Urva javanica (NC_006835) belongs in fact to its sister-species, Urva auropunctata (small Indian mongoose), previously named Herpestes javanicus or Herpestes auropunctatus [75]. and the low phylogenetic signal of nuclear protein-coding genes for the most recent nodes. Why did giant pandas and red pandas both evolve to eat bamboo? All PCR products generated for this study were overlapping in the 5 and 3 regions with at least two other PCR products. [100], which concluded to pervasive gene flow among Canis species, our results suggest that interspecies hybridization has been also frequent in the early evolutionary history of canid genera in Africa. Carnivore OR Herbivory Which one came first? - Physics Forums The chronogram was reconstructed with TreeAnnotator, which is included in the BEAST package [37]. Why did herbivores evolve so big? To illustrate the ease of digesting animals white tailed deer often eat nesting birds. 0.8 Mya [93] and 2.3 0.5 Mya [92]. food - Why do carnivores evolve? - Biology Stack Exchange Most members of the Felidae, including Smilodon populator (Machairodontinae), are found near the middle of the graph, except Homotherium latidens (Machairodontinae) for which the mtDNA genome shows a very atypical base composition. The three datasets used in this study are available at https://osf.io/cfx8r/. [115], the most effective means of establishing the quality of fossil-based calibrations is through a priori evaluation of the intrinsic palaeontological, stratigraphic, geochronological and phylogenetic data. The . US Port of Entry would be LAX and destination is Boston. In the first approach, PCR amplifications were carried out as previously described [22] using the primers listed in S2 Appendix. Proc Natl Acad Sci, USA 99.7 (2002): 4409-4412. Despite this, five carnivoran species in our Bayesian tree (Fig 2) have a longer terminal branch than other representatives of the same family or superfamily: Cynogale bennetti within the Viverridae, Homotherium latidens within the Felidae, Mellivora capensis within the Mustelidae, Nasua nasua within the Procyonidae and Odobenus rosmarus within the Otarioidea. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s001, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s002, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s003, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s004, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s005, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s006, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s007, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.s008. Data Availability: All genomes specially sequenced for this study were deposited in GenBank under accessions numbers MW257198-MW257240 and the three datasets used for phylogenetic analyses were deposited at https://osf.io/cfx8r/. A carnivore is an organism that mostly eats meat, or the flesh of animals. different phyla, classes, orders or families). The alignment of the protein-coding genes of 220 mitochondrial genomes (PCG-mtDNA dataset) was used to calculate the frequency of the four bases (A, C, G and T) at each of the three codon-positions (S3 Appendix). The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? Evolution of a Predator: How Big Cats Became Carnivores According to our divergence time estimates, crown carnivorans appeared during or just after the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum; all major groups of Caniformia (Cynoidea/Arctoidea; Ursidae; Musteloidea/Pinnipedia) diverged from each other during the Eocene, while all major groups of Feliformia (Nandiniidae; Feloidea; Viverroidea) diversified more recently during the Oligocene, with a basal divergence of Nandinia at the Eocene/Oligocene transition; intrafamilial divergences occurred during the Miocene, except for the Procyonidae, as Potos separated from other genera during the Oligocene. here. Are Dogs Carnivores? Diet, Anatomy, and Evolution - Rover.com However, several species show more similar mitogenomes: Martes martes and Martes zibellina (1.9%); Phoca largha and Phoca vitulina (1.9%); Mustela putorius versus Mustela eversmannii (1.2%) and Mustela nigripes (1.6%); Felis catus and Felis silvestris (0.7%); Zalophus californianus and Zalophus wollebaeki (0.5%); Urocyon cinereoargenteus and Urocyon littoralis (0.4%). Within Martes, the pine marten (Martes martes) from western Europe and the sable (Martes zibellina) from Siberia and adjacent areas have quite similar mitogenomes (1.9% divergence), and our estimation of divergence time is 1.11.0 Mya, which is in agreement with Law et al. 01:08. The values calculated with the two approaches are given for all the nodes described below. Black circles indicate nodes that are also monophyletic in the two following trees: SuperTRI bootstrap 50% majority-rule consensus tree; and Bayesian tree obtained from the analysis of the mtDNA-Tv dataset and JC69+I+G model. Sometimes carnivores are called predators. [92] have previously concluded that they are separate species because they were found reciprocally monophyletic with D-loop and CYB sequences and numerous private alleles were detected for both taxa at most of the 25 investigated microsatellite loci. LcuA, As shown in Fig 1, Cynogale, Homotherium and Mellivora show a divergent base composition. Size. from carnivory exceed the marginal photosynthetic costs associated Libraries were sequenced at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle pinire (Paris, France) using a NextSeq 500 system and the NextSeq 500 High Output Kit v2 (300 cycles) (Illumina). The mitogenomes of Nasua and Odobenus have a base composition that is not so divergent from their closest relatives, suggesting that an acceleration of substitution rates is the cause of their long branch in Fig 2. Since female philopatry versus male biased dispersal was well attested by both radiotracking and genetic data in European otters [58], we consider that nuclear data are needed to solve this taxonomic issue. [72]. The two outgroup species are not shown. Libraries were prepared using the TruSeq Nano DNA Library Prep kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) after pooling 150 ng of total DNA of 10 species belonging to distant taxonomic groups (i.e. [122]. This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. Although Prionodon was treated as a member of the Viverridae by Hunt [124] and previous authors, it was then found to be the sister-group of the Felidae by Gaubert and Veron [125] which was confirmed by all more recent studies [9,10,26] (see also Fig 2). The new research showed that big cats have genetic mutations that enabled them to be carnivores. I would also extend the question to other animals because many animals are carnivorous: why did carnivory evolve and why do animals eat meat? [74] in recognizing two species of leopard cats: the mainland leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis for Asian mainland leopard cats and the Sunda leopard cat Prionailurus javanensis for leopard cats from Java, Sumatra and Borneo. Any issues to be expected to with Port of Entry Process? In mammals, females are generally philopatric, spending their lives close to their birthplace, whereas males typically undertake longer-distance dispersals during their lives [4951]. It showed the evolution of whales. The genus Melogale includes five species [1]: Melogale cucphuongensis known from a few animals collected in northern Vietnam [59,60], Melogale everetti on Borneo, Melogale moschata which is widely distributed from North-east India to Taiwan through China and Indochina, Melogale orientalis on Java, and Melogale personata, which is found in mainland Southeast Asia. May 3, 2019 10:13 AM PT On the outside, giant pandas look like herbivores. [9] (59.2 Mya) and Nyakatura and Bininda-Emonds [10] (64.9 Mya). Meat is typically richer in calories than vegetation, particularly those coming from fat and protein. Yes Meet the Scientist Studying How Dogs Evolved From Predator to Pet A note on evolutionary strategies would also be nice. In the fossil record, this period was marked by the first appearances of Primates, Perissodactyla and Cetartiodactyla in North America and Europe, as well as Carnivoraforms, a group formed by the crown group Carnivora plus the stem family Miacidae [2,4,119]. Writing review & editing, Affiliation The ages were inferred with BEAST using the mtDNA alignment and the 22 calibration points detailed in Table 1, including 21 fossil calibration points and a single molecular calibration point (used for the MCRA of Ferae). The third approach was based on Illumina shotgun sequencing. The earliest clear evidence of humans cooking food . VeronG, in the Bayesian tree reconstructed using the mtDNA-Tv alignment and JC69+I+G model (S5 Appendix) and in the Bootstrap 50% majority-rule consensus tree reconstructed from the MRP matrix of the SuperTRI analysis (S6 Appendix). In 88% of the species for which at least two mitogenomes were available (65 out of 74), intraspecific distances were found to be less than 2%. We recommend therefore to include the four species Mustela africana, Mustela felipei, Mustela frenata and Neovison vison into the genus Grammogale. For the order Carnivora, there are currently more than 2,400 complete mitogenomes, and some of these were sequenced from Pleistocene fossils, such as polar bear [13], giant short-faced bears [14], cave lion [15] or saber-toothed cats [16]. With time, this behaviour can result in a high spatial genetic structure of mtDNA variation since the mitogenome is transmitted maternally. The results support the non-monophyly of four genera: (1) Arctocephalus, because Arctocephalus pusillus is divergent from Neophoca, Phocarctos and other species of Arctocephalus; (2) Canis, because Canis adustus is more distantly related to other Canis species than to Cuon alpinus; (3) Mustela, because Mustela frenata is the sister-species of Neovison vison, whereas all other species of Mustela are enclosed into a robust clade; and (4) Ursus, because Helarctos malayanus is closely related to Ursus americanus and Ursus thibetanus, whereas Ursus arctos, Ursus maritimus and Ursus spelaeus are grouped together. Omnivore: These animals eat both meat and plants as main food sources. Why did carnivorous plants evolve to be carnivorous? Here's how plants became meat eaters | Live Science Therefore, we follow Kitchener et al. from research organizations Humans were apex predators for two million years, study finds What did our ancestors eat during the stone age? Therefore, it's not necessarily easy, or easier, to evolve to eat only vegetation. Institut de Systmatique, volution, Biodiversit (ISYEB), Sorbonne Universit, MNHN, CNRS, EPHE, UA, Paris, France, Roles However, Mustela putorius, Mustela eversmanii and Mustela lutreola can be found in sympatry in Europe [1], suggesting possible mtDNA introgression during the Pleistocene epoch. Other types of diets include: Facultative carnivore: These animals sometimes eat meat, just not as a primary food source. If the humans limited themselves to only the lettuces as a food source they would have to compete with the rabbits in order to survive. Ambiguous regions for primary homology were excluded from the alignment. How Carnivorous Plants Evolved | Science| Smithsonian Magazine Three early Oligocene fossils were used as calibration points in this study: Proailurus and Stenogale, which were assumed to be stem Felidae; and Palaeoprionodon, which was supposed to be a stem Prionodontidae. Indeed, the three fossil genera formed the sister-group of Feloidea + Viverroidea + Herpestides antiquus in the phylogenetic analyses of Sol et al. The mtDNA distances calculated between closely-related species are generally higher than 2% (73% of the comparisons detailed in S4 Appendix). [9] (red histograms) and Nyakatura and Bininda-Emonds [10] (orange histograms). The results were compared with mean ages inferred in Eizirik et al. Metrics Distantly related plants acquired their ability to eat meat through similar genetic changes. [26], who used a similar minimum boundary for Feloidea (> 28.3 Mya), the divergence times estimated for Feliformia were found to be highly variable between their eight molecular dating analyses, with mean ages between 35.81 and 43.07 Mya. [8]. How Humans Evolved To Be Natural Omnivores - Forbes In addition, two higher taxa of Caniformia show longer branches: Otarioidea and Musteloidea. Why did carnivores evolve? - Quora No, PLOS is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, #C2354500, based in San Francisco, California, US, Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249387, https://doi.org/10.11606/T.41.2010.tde-09122010-104050, https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T15106A45228501.en. Total DNA was extracted from cells, muscle or skin samples using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). (2021) Our dating estimates suggests that the basal split between Nandinia and other genera of Feliformia occurred at the Eocene/Oligocene transition (34 Mya), when a brutal and global cooling of 5C resulted in the extinction of many taxa and the appearance of several modern mammal lineages [128]. carnivore OR herbivory? The mean divergence times were here estimated with two approaches for the prior distribution on the calibrated node ages: (1) a uniform distribution between maximum and minimum boundaries (U approach, blue histograms); and (2) a log-normal distribution (L approach, green histograms) (see main text for details). Our results confirm that these taxa should be considered subspecies rather than species. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770.g003. In their recent paper, published in New Phytologist, Miroslav Krausko and colleagues confirmed this hypothesis, using mechanical, prey, and wounding stimuli to demonstrate that the . Although several nodes showed similar ages in the two studies, such as the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of the Carnivora (59.2 Mya versus 64.9 Mya), Arctoidea (42.6 Mya versus 47.8 Mya) and Pinnipedia (24.5 Mya versus 22.4 Mya), some nodes were highly discordant, including the MRCA of the Caniformia (48.2 Mya versus 61.2 Mya), Feliformia (44.5 Mya versus 53.2 Mya), Feloidea (Felidae + Prionodontidae) (33.3 Mya versus 52.9 Mya) and Canidae (7.8 Mya versus 16.3 Mya). Our chronogram in Fig 3 shows that no intergeneric divergence occurred during the Pleistocene epoch, except the split between the Malagasy euplerid genera Mungotictis and Salanoia, and the separation between the seal genera Halichoerus, Phoca and Pusa. No, Is the Subject Area "Phylogenetics" applicable to this article? Previous molecular studies have shown that inferring deep phylogenetic relationships using mitogenomes can be problematic. Our estimations indicate that these four closely related species of Mustela have diverged from each other after 1.11.0 Mya. What is the relational antonym of 'avatar'? PLOS ONE 16(3): e0249387. We sequenced 43 mitogenomes using various methods (Sanger sequencing of PCR products, NGS of long PCR products or Illumina shotgun sequencing). The case of Homotherium is more problematic. This trend, previously reported in various genera of Cetartiodactyla [22] and Primates [94], is here confirmed in the following 25 carnivoran genera: Arctocephalus, Catopuma, Felis, Genetta, Leopardus, Lutra, Lynx, Martes, Meles, Melogale, Mirounga, Monachus, Mungos, Mustela, Panthera, Paradoxurus, Phoca, Prionailurus, Prionodon, Puma, Pusa, Ursus, Urva and Vulpes. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240770, Editor: Ben J. Mans, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, SOUTH AFRICA, Received: September 30, 2020; Accepted: January 6, 2021; Published: February 16, 2021. Here's why humans are carnivores. As pointed out in Warnock et al. Within the Viverroidea, the Viverridae diverged from other families in the Oligocene at around 28.225.8 Mya, followed by the Hyaenidae in the late Oligocene at around 24.522.9 Mya, whereas the split between the Eupleridae and Herpestidae took place in the Miocene at around 22.321.2 Mya. In addition, the phylogenetic positions of these two species result in the polyphyly of the two genera Martes and Mustela, as previously found using both mtDNA and nuDNA markers [8]. With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, the number of mitochondrial genomes available in the international nucleotide databases has considerably increased during the last decade [12]. However, our dating estimates fit well with the end of the warmest period of the Cenozoic era, from the PalaeoceneEocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) at 56 Mya to the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) at around 5350 Mya [116118]. Within Ursus, bears living on the Alaskan ABC islands have mitogenomes which are very similar (0.40.5%) to those sequenced for extant polar bears and the fossil of Svalbard dated between 130 ka and 110 kya [13]. What's it called when multiple concepts are combined into a single problem? Why did predation evolve as a survival mechanism? The mtDNA phylogeny reconstructed here presents a good opportunity to study the evolution of the order Carnivora. Carnivorous plants are the 'most skillful green hunters on the planet.' Comments (0) Carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps have evolved to be skillful hunters. According to our divergence time estimates, crown carnivorans appeared during or just after the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum; all major groups of Caniformia (Cynoidea/Arctoidea; Ursidae; Musteloidea/Pinnipedia) diverged from each other during the Eocene, while all major groups of Feliformia (Nandiniidae; Feloidea; Viverroidea) diversified more . But there are specializations for eating plants and for eating animals that don't fit very well with the other lifestyle. FAQ: How did carnivorous plants evolve? | Tom's Carnivores This trend is observed at each of the three codon positions, and is more marked at third positions: T1 = 25.47% versus MoV = 23.79%, T2 = 42.71% versus MoV = 42.17%, T3 = 30.52% versus MoV = 26.21%. Despite having physical characteristics more suitable for eating bamboos, including more developed molars when . For centuries, researchers have been fascinated with the rapid prey responses of carnivorous plants, believing them to have evolved from plant defence mechanisms. In rainforests that carpet vast. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249387 Vitamin B12 would be a very important example, see this source. Oknha Nhim Vanda, F. Catzeflis, R. Cornette, C. Denys, G. Dobigny, A. Delapr and the Mammal collection of the Musum national dHistoire naturelle, A. Dlicat, J. Fuchs, P. Gaubert, C. Hatten, Y. Varelides, the Phongsaly Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office and the EU Phongsaly Forest Conservation and Rural Development Project, S. Heard, A. Kitchener from the National Museums Scotland, J.-P. Hugot, S. Laidebeure and the staff of the Parc zoologique de Paris, E. Leroy, Van Cung Nguyen, P. Nicolau-Guillaumet, F. Njiokou, I. Parker M.-L. Patou, le Parc Zoologique de Montpellier, T. Petit and the staff of the zoo de La Palmyre, X. Pourrut, P. Taylor and the Durban Natural Science Museum, the staff of Southport Zoo, Do Tuoc, B. Patterson, W. Stanley and J. Phelps from the Field Museum of Natural History, V. Volobouev and L. Woolaver. The 43 new mitochondrial genomes generated for this study were annotated using MITOS [24] and deposited in GenBank under accession numbers MW257198-MW257240. Vegans are absolutely right when they say that a plant-based diet can be healthy, varied and exceedingly satisfying, and thatnot for nothingit spares. The separation between the Felidae and Prionodontidae occurred in the Oligocene at around 27.424.7 Mya. Lizards, snakes, amphibians, and coral all continue to grow until they die. This explains why mitogenomic sequences have been largely used for inferring interfamilial and intrafamilial relationships in most mammalian groups, including Cetartiodactyla [22], Feliformia [11], Primates [94,112], Pholidota [113], Xenarthra [114], etc. Why can you not divide both sides of the equation, when working with exponential functions? For all these nodes, the phylogenetic signal is therefore robust across all parts of the mtDNA alignment. The sample fit the prediction based on the species in the carnivore group with regard to both mean value and . Can a Carnivore Evolve into a Herbivore and vis versa? How Humans Became Meat Eaters - The Atlantic From this point, the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is intriguing because it is one of largest pinnipeds. Because both plants and animals carry energetic and nutritional value, herbivory and carnivory/omnivory can evolve. These variations in RS2 tandem repeats may pose serious problems of homology for DNA alignment. Carnivora / krnvr / is an order of placental mammals that have specialized in primarily eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The evolution of the horse, a mammal of the family Equidae, occurred over a geologic time scale of 50 million years, transforming the small, dog-sized, forest-dwelling Eohippus into the modern horse. Phylogeographic studies based on both mitochondrial and nuclear sequences (CYB, control region, intron 7 of FGB) [64,65] supported the existence of three distinct species of Paradoxurus: Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Indian and Indochinese regions), Paradoxurus musangus (mainland Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java and other small Indonesian islands) and Paradoxurus philippinensis (Mentawai Islands, Borneo and the Philippines). Jansen van VuurenB, At third codon-positions, Homotherium is characterized by a lower percentage of guanine (2.80% versus mean in other Felidae [MoF] = 6.25%) and a higher percentage of thymine (25.41% versus MoF = 20.79%). Intraspecific similarity distances are generally lower than 2%. The estimates of divergence time were calculated under BEAST v.2.4.7 using the GTR+I+G model on the mtDNA dataset. Although the two species are known to hybridize in captivity [1], they were found reciprocally monophyletic in previous mtDNA studies [85,86] and there is no evidence of mixed ancestry in wild populations found in sympatry (e.g. The Bayesian analyses were done with MrBayes 3.2.7 [33] using the two following models: GTR+I+G for mtDNA and JC69+I+G for mtDNA-Tv. This notably large and diversified dataset offers an excellent opportunity to better understand the evolutionary history of the order Carnivora, as problematic sequences and taxonomic issues can be more easily detected, and more importantly, as many fossils can be included as calibration points for estimating divergence times. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Something went wrong. If there is a robust topological conflict between Bayesian and SuperTRI results, this suggests that at least one of the studied genomes was partially contaminated by a mitochondrial DNA sequence from another species or by a nuclear DNA sequence of mitochondrial origin (Numt). The age estimates for the Carnivora and the two suborders Caniformia and Feliformia fit well with global changes corresponding to the appearance of other mammal lineages. The amplicons were then sequenced in both directions by Eurofins MWG Operon (Ebersberg, Germany). No, Is the Subject Area "Paleogenetics" applicable to this article? The lettuces have a constant population size and can support a limited population of rabbits. For taxonomy purpose, the analyses should be completed with nuclear markers, as Wultsch et al. The mito-nuclear discordance for the monophyly of the genus Lupulella was not discussed in previous studies. One of them was found to be more similar to the single mitogenome available for the South American fur seal, Arctocephalus australis (1.3%). Some taxa have a mtDNA genome characterized by a divergent base composition. The 12 variables measured were then summarized by a principal component analysis (PCA) using the FactoMineR package [28] in R version 3.5.3 (from http://www.R-project.org/). All behaviour consumes energy." Where to start with a large crack the lock puzzle like this? We also assembled eight mitogenomes from Sequence Read Archive (SRA) data. Divergence times were estimated on the CIPRES Science Gateway [32] using the mtDNA dataset and the Bayesian approach implemented in BEAST v.2.4.7 [37]. This suggests that maternal linages were first isolated at the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, when the glacial/interglacial oscillations commenced. Why do we find some things disgusting and others delicious? well-lit habitats such as bogs because the marginal benefits accruing [99]. Nuclear data should be sequenced to confirm this hypothesis and to further explore a possible taxonomic issue between South American and New Zealand fur seals. There are other heterotrophic lifestyles. The mitochondrial phylogeny differs from published nuclear phylogenies [97,98] in which Canis adustus was found to be related to Canis mesomelas (black-backed jackal), but more divergent from the clade composed of other Canis species, Cuon and Lycaon. The minimum age constraints used by Nyakatura and Bininda-Emonds [10] for Felidae and Viverridae seem however problematic because they were not extracted from the fossil record, but from the supertree of Bininda-Emonds et al. This trend is mainly explained by differences at third codon-positions, in which the giant panda shows more adenines (40.91% versus MoU = 38.46%) and thymines (28.52% versus MoU = 23.38%). The PCG-mtDNA dataset was used to calculate the frequency of the four bases (A, C, G and T) at each of the three codon positions, and the 12 variables measured were then summarized by a principal component analysis (PCA). Consider the activity of two large mammals, elephants and lions. To know which one, new fossils need to be discovered in the middle Eocene to fill the gap between the Carnivoraforms of the early Eocene and the oldest carnivorans of the late Eocene [4]. Grey circles show nodes that are not found to be monophyletic with one of the two methods detailed above. Because animal flesh provides a dense source of nutrients. Botanical carnivory is thought to have evolved in nutrient-poor and Two divergent mtDNA haplogroups were found for the leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis (3.6%), corresponding to the Asian mainland leopard cat and Sunda leopard cat [72,73]. While many people & organisations (including PETA) try to claim that we are not well adapted to being carnivores, many of the claimed adaptations to herbivory/lack of adaptations to omnivory are overstated, misleadingly presented, and even false, and are used in order to promote their own agenda.