Answer 1:
The short answer is that we all have slightly
different amounts of different elements, and some
animals have very different amounts than we have
of some elements. Also, 'we are what we
eat', so some animals will eat things with
unusual elements in them. Also, we don't even
know about all the animal species in the world
yet, so we certainly don't know what elements they
all have in them. Some more details are below.
My biology book has a nice table about the
elements in us - it says there are 92 elements in
the earth's crust but only 11 elements are
common in us - O, H, Na, Ca, K, Mg, C, P, S, Cl
and N. Then it lists the trace elements as:
Si, Al, Fe, Mn, F, V, Cr, Cu, B, Co, Zn, Se, Mo,
Sn, and I. In words, these elements are oxygen,
hydrogen, sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium,
carbon, phosphorous, Sulfur, Chlorine, and
Nitrogen; trace elements Silicon, Aluminum, Iron,
Manganese, Fluorine, Vanadium, Chromium, Copper,
Boron, Cobalt, Zinc, Selenium, Molybdenum, Tin,
and Iodine.
There's at least one big difference between us
and some simple animals. Our bones, and also sea
shells, use lots of calcium (Ca) to help
make them stiff and strong. But sponges and some
other simple animals that live in the ocean use
silicon (Si) to help make their bodies
stiff and strong.
Sometimes nutritionists analyze the elements in
peoples' hair to learn something about how healthy
they are.
I don't know if there are any elements in some
animals but not others. When I was in High School
in the 1960;s, I learned that our elements are: C
HOPKINS CaFe and a few others (we were supposed to
remember it as C. Hopkins Cafe), but I know
they've discovered V (vanadium) in us since then.
And Se (selenium) is in some nutritional
supplements now. And we worry if there is too
much Hg or Pb in us (mercury or lead). Given how
much has been learned about the elements in us
since the 1960's, I expect that we don't know for
sure exactly what elements are in all the
different animals. I'll see what I can find at
www.google.com ... not much. But you can look up
"periodic table" to find all the elements.
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