Classification of animals for food
The feeding of animals is very varied and is related to the adaptation to the ecosystem in which they live and, therefore, to their way of life and anatomy. Food diversification is, in fact, one of the reasons why the animal kingdom is so diverse and has been able to colonize all possible environments.
- In nature there are all kinds of animals that feed on leaves.
- Roots.
- Corpses.
- Blood and even faeces Do you want to know them?In this Animal Expert article we show you a complete ranking.
Os animais, durante seu processo evolutivo, se adaptaram a viver em muitos ambientes diferentes e a consumir os alimentos que estavam disponíveis. Muitos se especializaram em comer um único tipo de alimento, evitando a competição com outros organismos. Devido a isso, a alimentação dos animais é enormemente variada.
To better understand the evolutionary process of each animal and its relationship with its environment (ecology), it is necessary to know the classification of animals according to their diet.
The classification of animals according to their diet is based on the type of material from which they obtain their food, so we have the following types of animals:
Although the best known are the first three, we will talk about each of them.
Carnivorous animals are those that feed mainly on animal matter, they are also known as secondary consumers because they usually feed on herbivorous animals, for this they present different strategies such as high speed, breeding, silent walking or camouflage.
Carnivores assimilate most of the foods they eat because they are very similar to their own material.Thus, they can eat very little food and survive a long time without eating anything.However, these animals expend a lot of energy to feed themselves and tend to spend a lot of time resting.
Depending on how food is obtained, there are two types of carnivores
Depending on your main food, we have the following types of carnivores:
Herbivorous animals feed mainly on plant material, so they have chewers, are also known as primary consumers and are the food of many carnivorous animals, so herbivores run very fast, form herds, are able to camouflage and present other defense strategies, such as animal aposmatism.
The advantage of herbivores is the great ease with which they feed, which means that they have a very low energy expenditure, however, these animals can only assimilate and benefit from a small amount of plant matter they consume, so they need a lot of food.
Herbivorous animals are classified according to the type of plant material they feed on, many consume a main food, although they can consume another type of food more sporadically, here are some types of herbivores:
The omnivorous animals are those that feed on both animal and plant matter, for this they have all kinds of teeth, both canines to tear meat and molars to chew plants, are opportunistic animals with a general digestive system.
Its varied feeding allows omnivorous animals to adapt to all kinds of environments, whenever the weather allows, so they often become invasive animals when they reach new places.
Omnivorous animals are very diverse, so there are not exactly types of omnivorous animals, however, since the only limitation in their diet is their lifestyle, we can categorize them according to where they live, in this case we will have the following types of animals. omnivores:
There are many other forms of animal feed that are quite unknown, but not unimportance, within the classification of animals according to their diet, we can add the following types:
Decaying animals feed on remnants of organic matter, such as dried leaves or dead branches, during feeding they break down the material and throw away what is not in its use, among their wastes there are a lot of nutrients that serve as food for plants and many types of bacteria essential for soil formation.
Decaying animals include certain types of annelids, such as earthworms (Lumbricidae) and most snake lice (Diplopoda).
Parasites are living beings that “steal” nutrients from other organisms.To do this, they live attached to their skin (ectoparasites) or inside them (endoparasites).These animals have a relationship with their hosts called parasitism.
Depending on your guest or host, we can distinguish two types of parasitic animals:
Coprophages feed on the faeces of other animals.An example is the larvae of manure beetles, such as Scarabaeus laticollis; adults of this type of beetles carry a stool ball in which they lay their eggs, allowing future larvae to feed on them.
Feces-eating animals can be considered decomposers, like them, are essential for the recycling of organic matter and its return to the trophic network.
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you visit our Curiosities section of the animal world.