how does the blood of an animal tell scientists what its diet is?

Question

Watching a show on sharks and they took blood to see what the diet was and from the test said it was x% fish x% bird and so on. How does this work? Does it work across species?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Basically, it’s because of the food. The nutrients are absorbed into the animal’s blood and scientists can take a sample of an animal’s blood and look for specific molecules. When they identify and measure these molecules in the blood, scientists can know what the animal has been eating and in what proportions.