- What are carnivorous animals?
- Examples of carnivorous animals
- Characteristics of carnivorous animals
- Types of carnivorous animals
- Herbivorous animals
- Omnivorous animals
We explain what carnivorous animals are, how they are classified and how they differ from herbivores and omnivores.
What are carnivorous animals?
Carnivorous animals or zoophagi are those consuming organisms whose diet consists exclusively of the organic material of other animals. They are organisms heterotrophs. This classification considers both animals predators, like the scavengers.
Although the mere mention of the word carnivore makes us think of the great African or Asian predators (if not the prehistoric ones, such as certain species of dinosaurs), in reality there is a very numerous universe of animals they get their Energy Y matter thus.
It is not a feeding exclusively for red meat or mammals, but from the meat of another animal. There are even plants that complement your nutrition autotrophic with methods of digestion of insects (the so-called carnivorous plants).
Carnivorism emerged as a method of nutrition since primitive times, as part of the evolutionary competition of life. It was an important engine of the natural selection, as prey and predators competed for millions of years to adapt to the strategies of the other.
Examples of carnivorous animals
Some examples of carnivorous animals are:
- The great African and Asian felids: tigers, lions, jaguars, pumas, lynxes, and other scavengers that live next to them, such as hyenas or vultures.
- The fearsome marine predators: sharks, barracudas, orcas, moray eels, etc.
- Arachnids such as scorpions, centipedes, and spiders, and insects such as the praying mantis.
- Prey birds such as owls, barn owls, hawks, and eagles, as well as other scavengers such as vultures and condors.
- Wild canids like foxes, coyotes, Wolves and wild dogs.
- Piscivorous birds such as pelicans, gannets or cormorants.
Characteristics of carnivorous animals
Carnivorous animals can have very different characteristics, since in each case they are adapted to the habitat in which they live and the hunting strategies that allow them to consume the meat of other animals. For example, large terrestrial carnivores often have sharp teeth to tear meat, or curved to hold prey and prevent escape.
In some cases, they also have sharp claws, and in others with modified organs, such as the teeth of poisonous snakes, capable of inoculating their prey with a kind of modified digestive enzymes that produce different types of paralysis or death.
Many carnivores are also skilled hunters, endowed with instinct and mechanisms to stalk, chase or surprise their prey, thus maximizing their chances of feeding. Many have large jaws to bite into, like sharks.
In the case of insects, crustaceans and arachnids, they have claws or strong appendages to hold prey, break their defenses or extract them from their hiding places. Carnivorous birds can do the same with their strong, sharp and curved beaks and sharp claws, ideal for holding and tearing the outer layers of the animal and accessing the softer and more nutritious meat.
There are also marine carnivores such as the blue whale employing methods of filtering the water to keep the large portions of crustaceans and microorganisms on which they feed. For this they have internal beards and huge mouths.
On the other hand, carnivores tend to have digestive systems more direct and simple, at least in comparison with herbivores, since the latter must digest the organic material vegetable, while animal meat is much simpler to digest.
Types of carnivorous animals
There are two possible classifications of carnivorous animals. The first takes care of the type of meat they eat, that is, the type of animals they preferably consume. Thus, we could distinguish between:
- Strict carnivores. Those who eat meat from other animals vertebrates, such as mammals, birds or reptiles.
- Piscivores. Those that devour fish and other non-mammalian marine life.
- Insectivores. Those who feed on insects and others arthropods.
On the other hand, we can also distinguish between carnivores according to the preference they give to meat in their diet, since they combine it with other food sources:
- Hypercarnivores. Those who eat mostly meat (approximately 70% of their diet).
- Mesocarnivores. Those who combine meat and other food sources in the same proportion (approximately 50% of their diet).
- Hypocarnivores. Those that include meat in their diets, but in a minority way (up to 30% of their diet).
Herbivorous animals
Herbivorous animals, unlike carnivores, are consumers that obtain their energy and food from the organic matter of origin. vegetable, that is, ingesting parts of the plant's body: leaves, stems, bulbs, roots, fruits, seeds, flowers, etc. Seaweed is also part of their diet, in some cases.
These animals usually live in regions with a lot of plant presence and have teeth or beaks conditioned for the type of plant matter that makes up their diet. This includes flat molars to grind up plant fibers, as well as diverse stomachs or a long and recurring digestive system, in which plant cellulose can break down and get Energy.
Examples of herbivores are cattle such as cows, or wild animals like the antelope and the giraffe.
Omnivorous animals
A category beyond carnivore-herbivore bipolarity is that of omnivorous animals, which are capable of obtaining their sustenance from very diverse and complementary sources.Therefore, they can subsist on both a vegetarian diet and a carnivorous diet, or mixed.
They are non-specialized consumers, who can play the role of predators, scavengers and herbivores at will. Some cases of omnivorous animals are bears, pigs, dogs domestic, the apes and the human being.