Carnivorous Animals are beings whose diet consists mainly of meat, either obtained from prey or carrion. From these sources they obtain the necessary energy and nutrients. But carnivores are not only the great beasts such as the lion or the shark, but also certain birds, insects, fish and even plants.
carnivorous animals
Carnivorous or zoophagous animals are those creatures whose diet is exclusively composed of the organic matter of other animals, that is, they are heterotrophic organisms. In this article we will refer to both the animals that subsist on live prey (predators) and those that do so on already dead prey (scavengers).
When referring to the word carnivore we think of the great African or Asian predators (when not prehistoric animals such as certain dinosaurs), there truly is a vast universe of animals that manage to obtain their energy and matter in this way. It is not simply the diet based only on red meat or mammals, but on the meat of any other animal.
There are even plants that supplement their autotrophic nutrition with insect digestion systems (the so-called carnivorous plants). Carnivorism emerged as a nutrition system since ancient times, as a component of the evolutionary dispute of life. It formed a relevant engine of natural selection, and that is how prey and predators competed for millions of years to adapt to each other's tactics.
Examples of Carnivorous Animals
Carnivorous animals can be grouped into different categories according to their performance environment:
- The huge African and Asian felids: tigers, lions, jaguars, pumas, lynxes, and other scavengers that live alongside them, such as hyenas or vultures.
- The terrifying marine predators: sharks, barracudas, killer whales, moray eels, etc.
- Arachnids like scorpions, centipedes and spiders, and insects like praying mantises.
- Birds of prey such as owls, owls, falcons and eagles, as well as other scavengers such as vultures and condors.
- Wild canids such as foxes, coyotes, wolves, and wild dogs.
- Piscivorous birds such as pelicans, gannets or cormorants.
Characteristics of Carnivorous Animals
Carnivorous animals can have very different traits from each other, since each one has adapted to the environment in which it lives and to the hunting tactics that allow them to eat the meat of other animals. For example, huge land carnivores usually have sharp teeth to tear flesh, or curved teeth to secure prey and prevent it from escaping.
In certain cases, they also have sharp claws, and in others they have altered organs, such as the teeth of poisonous snakes, which have the ability to inject their prey with a type of modified digestive enzymes that cause various types of immobilization or death.
Many carnivores are equally adept hunters, equipped with intuition and mechanisms to spot, harass or surprise their prey, thus increasing their opportunities to feed. Much of it has huge jaws to bite, an example of this, sharks.
In the case of insects, crustaceans and arachnids, they have powerful pincers or appendages to secure prey, break their defenses or remove them from their hiding places. The same task can be undertaken by carnivorous birds with their powerful, sharp and curved beaks, and their sharp claws, ideal for retaining and tearing the outer layers of the animal and reaching the softest and most nutritious meat.
There are also marine carnivores such as the blue whale that use water filtering systems to trap the large masses of crustaceans and microorganisms with which they eat. For this they have internal beards and gigantic mouths. On the other hand, carnivores usually have more direct and simple digestive systems, at least when compared to herbivores, since the latter have to digest organic vegetable matter at different stages, while animal meat is much simpler. to digest
Types of Carnivorous Animals
There are two likely classifications of carnivorous animals. The first is carried out according to the type of meat from which they feed, that is, to the type of animal that they preferably consume. Thus, one can differentiate between:
- Rigorous carnivores. They are what feed on meat that comes from other vertebrate animals, such as mammals, birds or reptiles.
- piscivores. They are the ones that eat fish and other non-mammalian marine species.
- insectivores. They are what feed on insects and other arthropods.
On the other hand, carnivores can also be differentiated according to the percentage of meat they include in their diet, since they mix it with other food sources:
- hypercarnivores. They are the ones that feed mostly on meat (about 70% of their diet).
- mesocarnivores. They are the ones that mix meat and other food sources in the same proportion (about 50% of their diet).
- hypocarnivores. They are the ones that include meat in their diets, but in a smaller proportion (a maximum of 30% of their diet).
Generally when we think of carnivorous animals we do not get any problem in citing several species. However, sometimes we overlook certain details, for example, carnivores in their entirety are not mammals or fish. It is when we realize that these creatures are found throughout the animal kingdom, with different skins. To begin with, we could differentiate between those carnivorous animals that eat insects and invertebrates (insectivores), fish (piscivores) or mammals ('pure' carnivores).
Types of Carnivorous Animals according to their Food
Just as its name indicates, the food of carnivorous beings is of animal origin. Thus, carnivores can be classified into three classes, according to the type of diet:
- Predators: They catch and eat their prey immediately.
- Ghouls: They feed on carrion and offal from the corpses of deceased animals that they find in their path.
- coprophagous: They feed primarily on excrements and, sometimes, on insects or small animals.
Most Popular Carnivorous Animals
Some of the animals of this type that have the greatest resonance in the world are:
The lion
The sovereign of the Jungle lives in Africa and its food is huge mammals, such as wildebeests and zebras, its favorite prey. Eventually, their food may be carrion. And, despite the fact that both the male and the female are deadly hunters, the one responsible for supplying the group with food is the female.
The vulture
Their diet is based on the ingestion of dead animals. In contrast to other birds of prey, vultures usually eat large dead animals left behind by their hunters. Their thick beaks allow them to tear the skin and dig between the bones to remove all the meat.
The White shark
The great white shark is one of the deadliest carnivorous creatures in the world. Its attack is fierce and can devour its prey in a few minutes. His entire body greatly benefits him in both sneaking and attacking. Very rarely can eat from whale carrion.
The crocodile
Thanks to its colossal jaws, it can swallow huge varieties of mammals in a few minutes. One of its capture methods is very particular: it approaches the banks of the water and stays still until its prey falls into its jaws. In the water, it moves with great speed and every time it captures its prey, it drags it until it drowns and then devours it.
The Scorpion
The diet of this invertebrate is made up of insects and spiders and, on certain occasions, of lizards or modest rodents. At first it poisons its victims with its powerful sting and then rips them apart to engulf them in parts. This procedure can take hours to ingest the prey completely.
The polar bear
One of the largest carnivorous animals on the planet is the polar bear. Its favorite food is seal pups, although it also eats fish. In one day it can eat up to 30 kilograms of food.
The Pelican
One of the most attractive carnivorous animals out there is the pelican, as it can eat fish up to 30 centimeters long. You can also include crustaceans, sea turtles and amphibians in your diet. In deeper waters, the pelican fishes alone and when it is close to the coast, it forms groups to throw itself on the schools of fish. It has a 'pouch' under the beak and can swallow without chewing.
the gecko
The gecko is a carnivorous reptile that eats spiders and insects, although on certain occasions it includes centipedes and scorpions in its diet, and even tiny lizards and modest birds. He is an opportunity hunter who does not have a particular food predilection, since he eats what he gets
The octopus
The octopod, named for its eight feet, is a mollusk whose diet is based on modest crustaceans and fish, despite the fact that it can occasionally ingest certain algae. When it is hunting, it moves its arms and attracts the interest of its prey, and then absorbs them with its suckers. Another way to achieve its purpose is to position itself on the prey and capture it with its beak-shaped mouth.
The dolphin
It is a mammal whose diet is based on fish, particularly tuna. Its methods range from circling schools to gather them together and eating them in batches together with other dolphins, to taking advantage of the sound waves it emits that bounce off the fish. Certain cetaceans can also use their tails to strike and stun prey.
The following articles may also interest you:
- Mammals
- Desert animals
- Marine animals