Studying mammals: The insect hunters

## 2.2 Feeding techniques

### 3 Adaptations linked to feeding in insect eaters

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# 3.1 Introduction

How evolution proceeds is obviously of central importance when studying mammals. Of fundamental importance to the way evolution works is the notion of natural selection, and in S182_3 Studying mammals: chisellers I'll be talking about what most researchers regard as this 'single most important idea in biology'. But before that, I want to describe some of the adaptations evident in insect eaters.

From your reading of LoM you'll appreciate that natural selection promotes the evolution of adaptations, which are heritable features of animals that increase the likelihood that they will survive and reproduce in the environment in which they live. Adaptations linked to obtaining food are of crucial importance and I'll be outlining examples from insect eaters in the following sections.

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