Animal adaptations according to altitude
A lot of animals live in a lot of different places with different enviroments including ones way higher than sea level and some a lot lower than sea level. The animals that live in high places have a very different system inside of them in comparison to the ones at sea level or lower; including red blood cell counts, lung capacity and also blood pressure. The Llama (Llama glama) lives in high altitudes and has adapted itself to its enviroment likewise to the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) which lives in all three types of levels therefore different populations of this animal have adapted to different enviroments.
Llama glama
The Llama lives in very high altitudes from 7,400 metres above sea level all the way up too 12,800. In comparison to most animals these Llamas have very unique blood which can adapt to the poor amount of oxygen available where they live. The Llama has a lot more red blood cells in their blood per unit compared to other animals. The hemoglobin, that is inside the red blood cells connects up with the oxygen and forms oxyhaemoglobin. the Llama that lives high up has a lot more red blood cells therefore a lot more haemoglobin. This means that the oxyhaemoglobin is increased and it can spread across the body of the Llama, going to all of the tissues and organs etc. Even though this is a good adaptation for the Llama to have the haemoglobin makes the blood a ,lot more thicker therefore the body has to work a little harder to pump it all around the body.
The Llama lives in very high altitudes from 7,400 metres above sea level all the way up too 12,800. In comparison to most animals these Llamas have very unique blood which can adapt to the poor amount of oxygen available where they live. The Llama has a lot more red blood cells in their blood per unit compared to other animals. The hemoglobin, that is inside the red blood cells connects up with the oxygen and forms oxyhaemoglobin. the Llama that lives high up has a lot more red blood cells therefore a lot more haemoglobin. This means that the oxyhaemoglobin is increased and it can spread across the body of the Llama, going to all of the tissues and organs etc. Even though this is a good adaptation for the Llama to have the haemoglobin makes the blood a ,lot more thicker therefore the body has to work a little harder to pump it all around the body.
This shows the saturation of haemoglobin at different partial pressures of oxygen, depending on altitude. It shows that the Llamas haemoglobin binds greater amounts of oxygen at low oxygen levels compared to other lowland non adapted animals. This isnt the only adaptation the Llama has, it also has a very large lung capacity so it is able to take a lot more air in with each breath which means that more oxygen for its haemoglobin. All these adaptations that the Llama possesses to live at such high altitudes comfortabely are all permenant meaning that there body is always like that unlike some other animals such as the Deer mouse.
The Deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)
This animal has a very broad altitudinal range of any North American mammal because of it been distributed at different levels of altitude all the time. These live in the Andes highlands which are up to 3000m high. Even though they can live high up they are said to have a rather low content of haemoglobin. The mice that live high up in the moutains have been said to eat a lot more food therefore living at higher altitudes takes a lot more energy to live a substancially healthy life. One species of Deer mouse lives in eastern Calidornia and lives in death valley, below sea level all the up to 4300m in sierra nevada. Deer mice have the ability to adapt very well to drastic changes between high and low. They have an extremely extensive and complex array of haemoglobin polymorphisms compared to any other mammals.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1308147?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102978988241
reseaches have taken place to examine the molecular underpinnings of fitness-related variation in the function of protein which can then be related to a well defined selection pressure. The DNA sequence varitation in the duplicated alpha-globin genes of the mouse in high/low altitudes demonstrate in research that functionally distinct protein alleles are maintained as long-term balanced polymorphism and that the adaptive modifications of the haemoglobins function in these mice are produced by independant or together effects of five amino acid mutations that work with oxygen-binding affinity.
This animal has a very broad altitudinal range of any North American mammal because of it been distributed at different levels of altitude all the time. These live in the Andes highlands which are up to 3000m high. Even though they can live high up they are said to have a rather low content of haemoglobin. The mice that live high up in the moutains have been said to eat a lot more food therefore living at higher altitudes takes a lot more energy to live a substancially healthy life. One species of Deer mouse lives in eastern Calidornia and lives in death valley, below sea level all the up to 4300m in sierra nevada. Deer mice have the ability to adapt very well to drastic changes between high and low. They have an extremely extensive and complex array of haemoglobin polymorphisms compared to any other mammals.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1308147?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102978988241
reseaches have taken place to examine the molecular underpinnings of fitness-related variation in the function of protein which can then be related to a well defined selection pressure. The DNA sequence varitation in the duplicated alpha-globin genes of the mouse in high/low altitudes demonstrate in research that functionally distinct protein alleles are maintained as long-term balanced polymorphism and that the adaptive modifications of the haemoglobins function in these mice are produced by independant or together effects of five amino acid mutations that work with oxygen-binding affinity.