In insectivorous animals, as their name indicates, their diet is mostly based on insects, tiny animals of great nutritional value, a pure source of energy, proteins and fats of high property. In this section we will learn about insectivorous animals, their characteristics and more.
What are insectivorous animals?
Insectivorous is understood as all those animals that feed almost or only on insects. Invertebrate animals have a great nutritional contribution due to their high protein and fat content. They are part of the arthropod family and we can mention insects, snails, worms and arachnids.
What are arthropods?
They represent 75% of all animal species, are found in almost all biospheres on the planet and form the base of the food pyramid. They are bilaterally symmetrical invertebrates, their size is very variable from millimeters to a maximum of half a meter on a few occasions, just like their shape, it is impossible to give a guideline that distinguishes most of them.
These little animals are part of the diet of many animals or can be part of a complement in specific cases that require the nutrients that these insects provide, such as in a season of the year, at times of breeding or in a certain period of their life.
Characteristics of insectivorous animals
Establishing common characteristics that distinguish an insectivorous animal presents its difficulties because the universe of animals that belong to this group is quite large, here we can find from fish to mammals. There are groups that have more than one trait in common as there are others whose types are particular, some characteristics that an insectivore presents:
The absorption of food will depend on the ability of the animal to absorb, that is, the greater the surface, the greater the absorption. Therefore, it is not surprising that the surface of the mucosa is increased when performing the Ingestion Process.
The structure of arthropods is very varied, but a large number of them have a coating on their bodies called chitin that is difficult to swallow, others have shells or very resistant coatings that also require a very complex digestive process since they are mostly ingested the insect in a single bite and once ingested, the food decomposition process begins.
Due to the above, it can be indicated that they have a stomach with great resistance and the process of thickening of the abdominal walls and its intestinal mucosa that are complemented by the presence of enzymes and products that collaborate in digestion.
In this food process, nourishment is achieved, through transforming the ingested food into other substances and obtaining the energy and energy contributions necessary for its sustenance. Each species has particular characteristics in the development of hunting techniques and in the progress of skills to capture and eat such precious food.
The senses in every hunting process are of vital importance, each group or species has characteristics that allow them to use their abilities to obtain their sustenance, taking into account the differences in body and in the habitat where they belong.
The tongue that comes to present flexibility, agility and in some prehensile species, is usually sticky to capture its prey, they occur in reptiles, amphibians and in some mammals and birds.
The sense of hearing is acute, some animals can detect their prey by using the echolocation technique, especially at night, the preferred time for hunting.
In most of these animals the sense of smell is well developed, their bone structure is shaped to work together, in the nose they generally have flexible snouts and sensory whiskers.
In birds they have perceptive hairs called Vibrisas, their function is to detect insects that pass near the animal. Other Vertebrates its nose allows it to locate insects under the ground.
The sense of sight can be said to be almost perfect, capable of detecting these small animals at a distance, especially birds. Birds have excellent vision, but are sensitive to light. Their field of vision is narrow so they have to turn their heads to look accurately at their target. Night birds see better than diurnal ones since their eyes are frontal.
They are generally plantigrade, characteristic of 4-legged animals that have 5 fingers on their hands that rest on the soles of their hands and feet to move and be able to get their food both on the ground and in trees.
insectivorous mammals
In this group we will find a variety of particular characteristics, for example, the ear of the bat makes use of the echolocation technique, the shrew its organ of smell developed for hunting. Here is a small list of some insectivorous mammals:
Anteater, Meerkat, Mongoose, Bat, Armadillo, Raccoon, Common Hedgehog, Hedgehog erinaceus, Hedgehog atelerix, Aardvark, Pangolin, Numbat, White-toothed Shrew, Mole, African Porcupine, House Mouse, Prairie Dog, Galago, Sugar Glider, Tailless Tenrec, Desman, Alchemy, American Mink, Shaggy-tailed Mole, Tarsier.
It should be noted that certain mammals feed on insects, but another group has seen the need to change their eating habits due to alterations in their habitat, this causes a shortage of their usual foods and to survive they make changes in their menu eg the harpy eagle.
insectivorous birds
This group has a great variety of characterization, there are birds that have little hairs called Vibrisas such as swallows, swifts Another group has an agile and flexible tongue that allows it to capture invertebrates in the most remote places, there is the group that have a vision acute. Some species of insectivorous birds are:
Swallow, Robin, Sparrow, Goldfinch, Woodpecker, Nightingale, Blackbird, Hoopoe, Verdines, Flycatcher, Tyranids, Bee-eater, Warblers, Skylark, Starling, Thrush, Magpies (some types), Chickens, Turkeys, Little Owl, Swift (some types) .
insectivorous reptiles
Reptiles due to their great variety of species and each one has a particular characteristic that allows it to achieve its objective when it comes to feeding, we can talk about the chameleon that has a photographic vision, a long and sticky tongue and with the help of the tail which is prehensile achieves its goal.
Snakes also present a great variety within their species, mostly the sense of smell is their ally, also in some the sense of sight, especially the nocturnal ones. There are many more species of insectivorous reptiles that are worth knowing:
Crocodiles, Chameleons. Salamanquesas, Iguanas, Red-bellied snake, Chionactes snake, Ficemia snake, Sonoran snake, Liopeltis snake, Tantilla snake, Glyalopion snake, Opheodrys snake, Ameiva, Blanus, Dendrocopos. Thorny devil, Cophosaurus.
Anniella, Common Lizard, Cory's Lizard, Long-tailed Lizard, Rock Lizard, Glass Lizard, Pipe Lizard, Armadillo Lizard (Cordylus cataphractus), Bipes, Cnemidophorus, Sceloropus (spiny lizards), Urosaurus, Xantusia, Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps) , Santo Domingo Curly Lizard (Leiocephalus lunatus), Yellow-eared Slider Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta).
insectivorous amphibians
The abilities of these animals are impressive, many have a retractable and sticky pointed tongue and are very quick to obtain their food. Also striking is the way they use to locate their prey and how they can distinguish their prey. Some animals are:
Country frog (Rana arvalis), Northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora), Iberian frog or long-legged frog (Rana iberica), Common frog (Rana temporaria), Mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana mucosa), Glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni), flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus).
South African Black Frog (Breviceps fuscus), Mossy Frog (Theloderma corticale), Red-eyed Green Frog (Agalychnis callidryas), Golden Frog (Phyllobates terribilis), Blue Arrow Frog (Dendrobates azureus), Harlequin Frog (Atelopus varius.)
insectivorous fish
In this species there is a group of insectivorous fish, their hunting technique will depend on their habitat. Freshwater fish feed on worms and larvae found in the water. Archer fish catch their prey by knocking insects into the water through water bombardments that they carry out to capture them and thus each of these species uses different abilities to capture their food.
Some species of insectivorous fish: Carps, cichlid fish, rainbow fish, puffer fish, cat fish, beta fish, spike fish, killifish, hatchet fish, palometa or mojarra, Mormiridae, Cypriniformes, Serrasalmids, Pecilids, Toxótidas.
insectivorous insects
In this group, due to its variety and quantity, it is the largest that eats the smallest. It is characterized by working together to achieve its objective, we can mention the ants and bees that present great organization and distribution of work that they use to capture their prey.
The animals that present stings stick them on their prey, paralyzing them by puncturing certain nerve ganglia with precision, they proceed to lay their eggs on them, from which larvae will emerge that will feed on the abundant reserve provided by the victim prepared by their parents. We can mention some of them:
Bee, Dragonflies, Ladybug, Wasp, Praying Mantis, Beetle, Bedbugs, Lacewings, Bullet Ant, Large Yellow Ant, Lion Ant, Cornfield Ant, Acrobat Ant, Velvet Tree Ant, Chicatana Ant, Pharaoh Ant, Thief Ant, Ant zancona, flies.
Insectivorous Arachnids
The arachnids also base their feeding on insects, which trap their prey, usually paralyze or kill it with their fearsome chelicerae, immediately wrapping it with special threads to keep them still and safe. Here are some insectivorous arachnids:
Black Widow, Fiddler Spider, Chick Spider, Corner Spider, Giant Hunting Spider, Wheat Spider, Hercules Spider, Camel Spiders, Wolf Spider, Redback Spider, Funnel Web Spider, King Baboon Tarantula, Goliath Tarantula.
What is entomophagy?
Entomophagy is known as the ingestion of insects and arachnids by people, who acquire a great taste for their flavor, for being food supplements since they are a source of good quality proteins and fats, many present them as exotic foods, others such as part of their daily diet like the aborigines or as medicine.
The increase in the consumption of insects in gastronomy has caused many species of these animals to acquire great value in the market, generating a change in the ecosystem of these animals and in the food pyramid.
Countries where insects are consumed the most
There are hundreds of countries whose customs and habits are exponential consumers of many groups of insects mentioned below:
Australia, Angola, Brazil, Chile, Cameroon, China, Japan, India, Mexico, South Africa, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Somalia, Thailand, the Philippines, Uruguay, and the United States
The most consumed insects
Beetles (31%), Butterflies and moths (18%), Bees, wasps and ants (14%), Grasshoppers (13%), Aphids, cicadas, bugs (10%), Others (14%).
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