Characteristics Of Herbivores, Carnivores And Omnivores

Characteristics Of Herbivores, Carnivores And Omnivores

Different animals have different feeding habits. Based on their feeding habits, animals can be divided into three groups: herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

Herbivores

Herbivorous animals or herbivores (herbi, plant; vore, eater) are those that eat only plants and plant products. Cow, deer, horse, giraffe, squirrel, and butterfly are examples of herbivores.
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Special Characteristics of Herbivores

  • Herbivores like cow, horse, and goat have wide, blunt teeth. Such teeth are suitable for pulling plants off the ground and grinding them.
  • Herbivores like cow and camel have the ability to bring back previously swallowed food to the mouth for chewing it the second time. This helps them to absorb most of the nutrients from hard-to-digest food like grass.
  • Squirrels have a pair of broad, sharp-edged front teeth (incisors) in each jaw They use these teeth to gnaw food items like nuts.
  • Herbivores like butterfly and hummingbird do not need to worry about chewing their food. They have mouth-parts shaped like a straw to suck nectar from flowers.

Carnivores

Carnivorous animals or carnivores (carni, meat; vore, eater) are those that only eat the flesh of other animals. Lion, tiger, jackal, vulture, owl, eagle, snake, and spider are examples of carnivores.
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Special Characteristics of Carnivores

  • Carnivores like lion and tiger have sharp and pointed front teeth (canines). They also have sharp claws and powerful jaws which help them to tear flesh.
  • Carnivorous birds like eagle have curved, pointed beaks that allow them to tear flesh.
  • Carnivores like chameleon and frog have a long, sticky tongue that they use to catch insects.
  • Carnivorous fish like shark have several small, sharp teeth that help them bite off chunks of flesh.

Omnivores

Omnivorous animals or omnivores (omni, all; vore, eater) are those that eat both plants and flesh of other animals. Bear, raccoon, crow, and human beings are examples of omnivores.
Characteristics Of Herbivores, Carnivores And Omnivores 3Special Characteristics of Omnivores

  • Omnivores like bear and human beings have different types of teeth that help them to eat both plants and flesh of other animals.
  • Omnivorous birds like crow have sharp and pointed beak to help them eat a
    variety of food.

Scavengers and Decomposers

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Instead of hunting live animals, some birds and animals eat the flesh of other animals that are already dead. Vulture is one such bird. These animals or birds are called scavengers. Some other organisms feed on and destroy (or decompose) dead plants and animals. Fungi and bacteria are examples of such organisms. These organisms are called decomposers. Together with scavengers, decomposers play a very important role in nature. Without these organisms, our planet would be covered with dead plants and animals.

What is meant by Biotic Components in Environment

What is meant by Biotic Components in Environment

All living things depend on their surroundings for food, water, and shelter.
All that surrounds living things and affects their growth and development is called their environment.
Both living and non-living things form the environment. Thus, we can say that the environment is made up of two parts or components – biotic and abiotic.

Components Of Environment

  1. Living things like plants and animals are called biotic components.
  2. Non-living things like air, light, water, soil, and temperature are called abiotic components.
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Biotic and abiotic components of the environment

1. Biotic Components
The word ‘biotic’ means ‘living’. Biotic components are those that have life. Plants, animals, scavengers, and decomposers are biotic components.
Plants
Most plants have green leaves. Leaves are green because they contain a green pigment called chlorophyll (<chloro, green; phyll, leaf). Chlorophyll gives plants the special ability to make their own food using light, water, and carbon dioxide.
The process by which green plants make their food using carbon dioxide and water in the presence of light and chlorophyll is called photosynthesis (photo, light; synthesis, production).

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Diagrammatic representation of photosynthesis

Animals
Animals cannot make their own food, as green plants do, thus they are called heterotrophs. Both animals and plants need substances called nutrients in order to grow. Plants absorb nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium from the soil. These nutrients enter the bodies of animals when they eat plants or the flesh of other animals. After these plants and animals die, their bodies decompose and nutrients reach back to the soil.

Scavengers and Decomposers
Some organisms feed on the bodies of dead plants and animals and release the nutrients trapped inside them.
Animals that feed on the dead bodies of other animals are called scavengers. For example, hyena and vulture.

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vulture

Tiny organisms that feed on the remains of dead plants and animals to break them down into simpler substances are called decomposers.
Bacteria and fungi are common decomposers.

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fungi

The nutrients released from the dead bodies by the action of scavengers and decomposers get mixed with the soil and are again absorbed by plants. This process is called recycling of nutrients.

Scavengers and decomposers play two important roles in the environment because:

  • They keep the environment clean by removing the bodies of dead plants and animals.
  • They help in the recycling of nutrients in the environment.

Interactions Among Biotic Components
Plants and animals depend on each other for various needs. Animals mainly depend on plants for food and shelter. Animals in turn help plants by pollinating flowers, dispersing seeds, etc.

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A bee pollinates flowers while collecting nectar

In nature, the following relationships are observed among plants, animals, scavengers, and decomposers.

  1. Plants (called producers) utilize sun’s energy and manufacture their own food through photosynthesis.
  2. Herbivores (called primary consumers) like rabbit and deer feed on plants.
  3. Carnivores (called secondary consumers) like tiger and lion feed on herbivores.
  4. Omnivores (called secondary consumers) like human beings and bear feed on both plants and flesh of other animals.
  5. Scavengers and decomposers feed on dead plants and animals and release the nutrients trapped inside their bodies into the soil. These nutrients are then absorbed by plants, which helps them to grow and manufacture their food.