Vitamin D can be synthesized only by a photochemical process. Its production from sterols would have started very early in the evolution of life around the origin of photosynthesis, possibly helping to prevent DNA damage by absorbing UVB, making vitamin D an inactive end product. The familiar vitamin D endocrine machinery containing vitamin D receptor (VDR), various CYP450 enzymes for activation and inactivation, and a vitamin D binding protein (DBP) is found in vertebrates only. Primitive marine vertebrates are thought to absorb calcium from the ocean into their skeletons and eat plankton rich in vitamin D, although the function in those without a calcified cartilage is unclear. Phytoplankton in the ocean (such as coccolithophore and Emiliania huxleyi) have been photosynthesizing vitamin D for more than 500million years.
Land vertebrates required another source of vitamin D other than plants for their calcified skeletons. They had to either ingest it or be exposed to sunlight to photosynthesize it in their skin. Land vertebrates have been photosynthesizing vitamin D for more than 350million years.
In birds and fur-bearing mammals, fur or feathers block UV rays from reaching the skin. Instead, vitamin D is created from oily secretions of the skin deposited onto the feathers or fur, and is obtained orally during grooming. However, some animals, such as the naked mole-rat, are naturally cholecalciferol-deficient, as serum 25-OH vitamin D levels are undetectable. Dogs and cats are practically incapable of vitamin D synthesis due to high activity of 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase, but get vitamin D from prey animals.