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Carnivore ,is a member of the mammalian order carnivora(Which translates to "Flesh devourers").Consisting of more than 270 unique species, carnivores have been alive for millions of years and throughout these years there were drastic changes.We will look through a series of evidence collected over the years to prove Darwin's two theories of evolution Descent with modification and Natural Selection.

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Carnivores have polygynous, polygynandrous, and monogamous mating systems. For example, Gray wolves are monogamous cooperative breeders; the dominant male and female of each pack breed and all members of the pack help raise their offspring.Solitary carnivores, such as bears,and cats are often polygynandrous,with males and females each having multiple partners during the breeding season.

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Carnivores have various means of capturing their prey. Some ambush prey,overtaking it in a sudden burst of speed,others chase prey over long distances and slowly tire it out. Carnivores rank high on the scale of intelligence among mammals.Animals in the canidae family use there highly developed sense of smell to hunt. Animals such as Gray Wolves hunt in packs and tend to establish territories though omnivorous carnivores are less apt to do so.Territories are often exclusive, defended by the residents against other animals of their kind.

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Carnivora/#diversity

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Physical characteristics shared by all of the orginisms within Order Carnivora

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Physical characteristics shared by all of the orginisms within Order Carnivora

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Prominent canines/carnasssial while the molars are blade like for cutting rather then grinding

Covered with thick fur and have tails

Less complex compartmentalization of the stomach and a decrease in the length/folding of the intestine.

Articulating surfaces (condyles) on the lower jaw form a half cylindrical hinge that allows the jaw to move in a vertical plane with abundant strength

The clavicles (collarbone) are reduced, absent, or embedded in muscle which allows greater flexibility to spring on prey.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Carnivora#Classification

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Canidae  (dogs)

Felidae  (cats: Tiger, Lion, Leopard)

Ursidae  (Giant Panda, Polar Bear, Brown Bear)

Procyonidae  (Raccoon)

Mustelidae  (Weasels, Badgers)

Mephitidae  (Skunks)

Herpestidae  (Mongooses)

Viverridae  (Civets, Genets)

Hyaenidae  (Hyenas)

Variety of species

Arabian Leopard (Panthera  Pardus Nimr)
Bali Tiger(Panthers tigris Balica)
Fennec Fox (Vulpes Zerda)
Grey Wolf (Canis Lupus)
Common Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale)
Javan Leopard (Panthera Pardus malas)

http://www.britannica.com/animal/carnivore-mammal

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Examples of orginisms that represent the diversity of orginisms found within the Taxonomic grpup.

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Examples of orginisms that represent the diversity of orginisms found within the Taxonomic grpup.

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Taxonomy is the classification of organisms into a system that indicates evolutionary relationships; It is the practice of describing , naming and classifying organisms.Taxonomy is able to show relationships among carnivores becasue organisms are separated into 'ranks" by studying their behavioral, physical,and internal relationships to each other.

Taxonomy:
Kingdom-Animalia
Phylum-Chordata
Class-Mammalia
Order-Carnivora
Family-?
Genus-?
Species-?

Family,genus,and species vary within the order carnivora. These ranks are where certain characteristics are studied more specifically.There are over 270 species in the carnivores family.But all come from a common kingdom,Phylum,class and order which show relationship between all of the organisms.

Below are three examples of organisms that differ in family, genus and species

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Taxonomy:
Kingdom-Animalia
Phylum-Chordata
Class-Mammalia
Order-Carnivora
Family-Felidae
Genus-Panthera
Species-Tigris

Location: Bengal Tigers live in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh

Habitat: Subtropical and tropical rain forests, alluvial grasslands,wet/dry deciduous forest, and mangroves.

Physical characteristics (internal & external)

Bengal Tigers have muscular bodies with powerful limbs, large heads and long tails.

Tigers are commonly shades of orange, brown, and white with vertical black stripes;this helps them camouflage in areas with long grass

On the back of their ears is a white spot surrounded by black,called ocelli,that plays a  roll in communication.

The Bengal Tiger along with other subspecies have wide teeth; and their curved canines are the longest among feilids.

Behavioral characteristics

Bengal Tigers are strong swimmers and often bathe in ponds/lakes

Bengal Tigers lead solitary lives,and establish/maintain territories.When females bear young they become very territorial.

Bengal Tigers use their body weight,strength and speed to attack their prey, knocking it down and killing by biting its neck.

Bengal Tigers usually Mate from November to April, and after a gestation period of 3 months the female tiger gives birth to 2-3 tiger cubs.

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Taxonomy:
Kingdom-Animalia
Phylum-Chordata
Class-Mammalia
Order-Carnivora
Family-Ursidae
Genus-Ursus
Species- Maritimus

Location: Polar Bears range largely within the Arctic Circle, Encompassing the Arctic Ocean.
Habitat: Arctic sea ice

Physical characteristics (internal & external)

Polar Bears have fur that grows on the bottom of their paws which protects them against cold surfaces and helps the, grip ice.

The Polar Bears white coat provides camouflage to the surrounding snow,but underneath their fur they have black skin that soaks in the suns rays.

Polar bears are very strong swimmers and use their large webbed front paws as paddles.

Behavioral characteristics

Polar Bears are diurnal and are stealth hunters.The prey is unaware of the bears presence until the attack is underway.

Polar Bears usually live solitary lives and hunt alone, but have been seen play fighting with each other.

Polar bears are strong swimmers and can swim in open Arctic waters as far as 170 miles from land.

Polar Bears have a generally polygynous mating system;mating takes place in April and May(Males fight over “mating rights”)

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/polar-bear/

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Phylogenic Tree-Ursidae

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Taxonomy:
Kingdom-Animalia
Phylum-Chordata
Class-Mammalia
Order-Carnivora
Family- Canidae
Genus- Vulpes
Species-Vulpes

Location: Red foxes are found across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, North America and Eurasia.

Red foxes live around the world in many diverse habitats such as forests, grassland, mountains, and deserts. They also adapt well in human environments such as arms and suburban areas.

Physical characteristics (internal & external)

Red Fox have an elongated body and short limbs with a long tail for balance, warmth and communication. They have very long canine teeth and a pronounced skull. Red foxes have various color mutations, the color of fur varies depending on regions.

Behavioral characteristics

Red Foxes hunt by first locating their prey by sound, then they leap, sailing high above the prey, steering in mid air with their tails before landing on its target up to 16ft away.

Red Foxes have a wide vocal range,and produce different sounds spanning five octaves.The majority of sounds can be divided into contact and interaction calls.

Red foxes mate in the winter months, the female gives birth to a litter of 2-12 kits.At birth Red foxes are brown or gray, but their new red coat grows at the end of the first month.

Red foxes travel alone, and are considered solitary animals.They are nocturnal although sometimes they will venture out in the day time.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/red-fox/
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Vulpes_vulpes/

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Phylogenic Tree- Canid

South American clade  (green)
Red-fox like clade (red)
Wolf-like clade (blue)
Grey and island fox clade (orange)

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Fossil records are a very important form of evidence in the theory of evolution within carnivores.Fossils can show the progressive changes seen within order carnivora overtime.Fossils also provide geologist a quick and fairly easy way to figure out time periods in which the organisms lived.

Below are six different fossils that provide evidence of evolutionary change within Order Carnivora

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Age of fossil: 10,000 years old (Late Pleistcene)

True cats evolved among the Felidae family. Sabertooths were found within the Nimravidae an extinct family that included true cats and civets. Sabertooths also appeared in the Hyaenodontidae,a family of extinct mammalian in order Creodanta.
The Sabertooth morphology, discovered through fossil evidence,  is an example of convergent evolution because it appears in several evolutionary lineages by itself.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/carnivora/sabretooth.html

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Age of fossil: 39-42 million

Meat eating mammals like bears, cats, and raccoon were considered arboreal in early evolution history. The Miacis Uintensis fossil was an amazing discovery that helped scientist discover that carnivores were built to walk on ground ,part of the time,  overtime carnivores developed to walk on land.

http://www.amnh.org/our-research/science-news/2009/fossil-shelved-for-a-century-reworks-carnivore-family-tree/

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Age of fossil: 8,000-35,000(Holocene to Pleistocene)
Coyote

http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Galleries/Mammalia/Canis-latrans/mammal-fossil-1.htm

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Age of fossil: 110,000-130,000(Eemian)
By Studying the jawbone scientist were able to identify things about polar bears evolutionary past that has implications for their evolutionary future.By studying the fossils DNA sequence and structure are able to estimate the date of the split between polar bears and brown bears

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/100401_polarbears

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Age: 11.6 (Miocene Epoch)
Giant Panda

http://www.livescience.com/24788-oldest-panda-fossils.html

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Age of fossil: 8,000-35,000 (Holocene-Pleistocene)

http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Galleries/Mammalia/Procyon-lotor/Procyon.htm

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Human and Feline

Scientist study the karyotypes of humans and cats to find similarities that links to common ancestry. Homo sapiens have 46 chromosomes, while Felis have 38. Within the autosomes 30 segments of conserved synteny were found.The arrangement of these segments in the feline karyotype differs by only seven single chromosome breaks and one intrachromosomal inversion from their arrangement in humans the cat and human karyotypes with 36 and 44 autosomes were found to be similar to a putative ancient mammalian founder karyotype.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8581300

Feline

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Human

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Canidae

Comparative analysis of chromosomes has proved very useful becasue canids have a diversity of chromosome morphology ranging from species such as red fox which has a low diploid number of chromosomes(2n=36) to the Grey Wolf which has a high diploid number (2n=78).Chromosome analysis suggests several phylogentic divisions within the canidae.

http://wooferhouse.net/links/molecularevolutionofthedogfamily/molecularevolutionofthedogfamily.htm

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Protein Analysis helps unravel phylogentic relationships of mammalian taxa.
Phylogenetic relationship among 41 mammalian species have been analyzed by comparison of the amino acid sequences of the eye lens protein a-Crystallin A, which makes up about 20% of protein in the mammalian eye lens.It consists of 173 amino acids long and enclosed by a single-copy gene.This study Included the carnivore species of Canidae, Felidae, and Ursidae.

http://mbe.library.arizona.edu/data/1986/0303/7dejo.pdf

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Order carnivora is a very large order consisting of 12 families, and over 260 species.Scientist are still studying the very diverse order to figure out whether Organisms went through gradualism,punctuated equilibrium,or a combination of both.

http://necsi.edu/projects/evolution/evolution/grad+punct/evolution_grad+punct.html

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Coevolution-
It is believed that both hominid and carnivores have undergone coevolution. Carnivores and Hominids  have different  bone assemblages, this shows evidence that hominid invasion of predatory guild involved resource partitioning based on some form of character displacement.
Carnivores also show coevolution between primates in the “social brain hypothesis”.Which argues that maintaining a group is demanding as individuals living in groups need to be able to resolve conflicts that impacts their ability to meet resource requirement. Sociality does effect cognitive demands it is expected to change relative brain size over evolutionary time.

Divergent evolution-
Divergent evolution is when animals originally closely related adapt to different environment and become quit different over time. For example sea lions and seals are carnivores and are related to bears ,cats ,and dogs. Their adaptations to aquatic existence had resulted in morphological characteristics very different from terrestrial carnivores.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17908248

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Both geographic isolation and microevolution is seen in the Polar Bear species.It is believe that when a population of brown bears began moving north,They became cut off from other members of the species.Due to glacial movement.Scientist hypothesized that a mutation must have occurs giving the bears lighter color fur,which proved to benefit the bears and the mutated gene was passed on .
Polar Bears are an example of microevolution because the mutation causing white fur occurred in a geographically isolated population of organisms,  and has not spread into related species.

http://polarbearevolution.weebly.com/evolution.html

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Carnivores usually mate with members of their own group. Carnivores are not scene random-mating that much, but there are a few members such as the brown Hyenas and Ethiopian wolves in which the females mate with males from another social group.

http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/4/480.abstract

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Darwins Theories Shown in Order Carnivora

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Darwins Theories Shown in Order Carnivora

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The changes seen overtime in order carnivora supports Darwins two theories of evolution. Descent with Modification is shown through the taxonomy of each species. There were many similarities in the DNA, RNA and chromosomes of species within order carnivora which gave evidence of the organisms similarities and ancestry. The specific species within order carnivora show how animals pass on unique traits that benefits the organism allowing it to stay alive. Darwin's theory of Natural Selection is proved within order carnivora becasue there are certain traits that organisms have,for example the stripes of tigers,that helps them survive in their environment. While other organisms of the same order may have traits that harm them and overtime the organisms will become extinct.This is scene in the fossils of past carnivores.