What Is An Animal That Eats Other Animals

What Is a Carnivore? Examples of Meat-Eating Animals

You lot may have heard the terms carnivore and herbivore before. Only what is a carnivore, and how can you tell if you lot're looking at one? Keep reading for helpful definitions of different eating behaviors and examples of carnivores.

carnivorous african eagle about to catch fish carnivorous african eagle near to take hold of fish

Definition of a Carnivore

Carnivores are meat-eating animals from the order Carnivora. They hunt, impale, and swallow the flesh of other animals in their ecosystems equally sustenance. Carnivores typically have longer and sharper teeth than other animals that help them attack prey, and they tear meat when they hunt.

They differ from other heterotrophs, which also consume other organisms, in the post-obit means:

Carnivores eat other animals.
Herbivores eat plants and seeds.
Omnivores eat both plants and animals, including insects and/or larvae.

Depending on where they fall in their food concatenation, carnivores may be the noon predator in their habitat. Carnivores that are lower in the nutrient chain may be hunted past other carnivores. Each predator/prey relationship depends on the specific ecosystem.

Types of Carnivores

While all carnivores swallow other animals, they don't always have the same nutrition. You tin go more than specific with the type of carnivore you're talking nigh by looking at its prey. Different types of carnivores include:

Avivores are bird-eating carnivores.
Insectivores are insect-eating carnivores.
Molluscivores are mollusk-eating carnivores.
Piscivores are fish-eating carnivores.

Examples of Carnivores

You can find examples of carnivores in every ecosystem on world. Whether they live on land, in the water, or in the air, there is ever a bigger animal waiting to prey on a smaller fauna. In some cases, you can even notice carnivorous plants that await for their insect prey considering they tin't hunt for them. Here are some examples for meat-eating animals and plants in dissimilar ecosystems.

Land Carnivores

Land-domicile carnivores take evolved for optimal hunting behavior. These adaptations include bang-up eyesight, bendable wrists for jumping after prey, and high levels of speed for outrunning animals. Carnivores on the land may hunt other state-based animals, or they might catch swimming or flight animals besides.

Cheque out these examples of carnivores that live on the land:

badger
back carry
chetah
cougar
giant panda
house true cat
hyena
jackal
leopard
king of beasts
lynx
mongoose
polar behave
raccoon
red play a joke on
skunk
weasel
wolf
wolverine

Each of these carnivores depend on smaller animals to hunt and swallow as sustenance. However, the animals they hunt depend on their ecosystem. Raccoons and lions are both carnivores, for example, but raccoons eat insects and fish while lions hunt zebras and gazelles.

Aquatic Carnivores

Meat-eating animals live in the water, too. Both saltwater and freshwater carnivores become their nutrient by hunting and eating fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and other herbivorous and omnivorous animals. Ocean, river, lake, and swimming ecosystems all depend on carnivores to stay balanced.

Hither are some examples of aquatic meat-eating animals in saltwater and freshwater habitats:

alligator
crocodile
dolphin
corking white shark
orca whale
otter
salmon
sardine
seal
squid
tuna
walrus

You may think that the great white shark is the noon predator of the ocean ecosystem. But really, the orca (or "killer") whale has been known to hunt and eat white sharks. Each of these predators help to regulate the fish supply of the oceans, but like how crocodiles and otters manage the fish population in freshwater habitats.

Flying Carnivores

Many carnivores swoop down on their casualty from the skies. These skilled hunters are ever searching the basis for pocket-size insects and animals. They use sharp, hooked beaks and talons to catch and swallow their prey. Insectivorous birds, such as sparrows, bluebirds, and swallows, have blunt beaks that are ideal for communicable worms and other invertebrates.

Here are some examples of carnivorous birds:

chicken (insectivorous)
crane
crow (insectivorous)
duck
eagle
flycatcher (insectivorous)
hawk
owl
pelican
penguin
phoebe (insectivorous)
sandpiper
sparrow (insectivorous)
eat (insectivorous)

While birds' diets are limited past their ecosystems, they typically have many types of prey to choose from. A militarist may hunt a mouse, a lizard, or a snake if they're bachelor. Penguins usually choose from the selection of fish in their habitat (and avoid the seals who are trying to chase them).

How Animals Stay Alive

Carnivores chase other animals in order to feed themselves and their offspring. Like other heterotrophs, they both depend on and help to maintain the ecological balance in their food chains. Check out more examples in an article well-nigh heterotrophs in dissimilar food chains.

Source: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/what-is-a-carnivore-examples-of-meat-eating-animals.html

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