As its name indicates, carnivorous animals that can be vertebrates or invertebrates, are those that obtain their sustenance by feeding mainly on meat, whether from live or dead animals. The word "carnivore" comes from the Latin carnivorus, which literally means "meat eater", and in ecological terms they are called "zoophagous".
If you want to know all the information about the carnivorous animals with examples and characteristics don't miss this article on our site in which you We are going to teach you everything you need to know about these animals, which are the ones at the top of the food/trophic chain.
Types of carnivorous animals
There are 2 types of carnivorous animals according to the way they obtain their food: predators and scavengers.
Predatory carnivorous animals are those that hunt their prey (usually herbivorous animals) by stalking them and chasing them until they reach them. On the other hand, carnivorous scavengers, such as vultures or hyenas, are those animals that take advantage of the remains of dead animals that have been hunted by predators or that have died of some disease. In short, predatory carnivorous animals feed on live meat and scavengers on dead meat
In any case, there are some specific names to call those animals that feed on only one type of living being, such as insectivores or entomophages that only eat insects (such as spiders), or piscivores that only eat fish (such as pelicans).
Furthermore, although they are not considered animals, there are also other living beings that only eat meat: carnivorous plants such as the venus flytrap or carnivorous fungi.
Classification of carnivorous animals
Not all carnivorous animals eat meat exclusively, that is why we are going to show this classification of the subspecies of carnivorous animals according to the degree of ingestion of the same:
- Strictly carnivorous or hypercarnivorous animals: those animals that feed exclusively on meat, since they do not have the necessary organs to digest plant foods. These consume more than 70% meat in their total diet, for example, tigers.
- Flexible carnivorous animals: those animals that normally eat meat but their bodies are adapted to occasionally digest plant foods.
- Occasional carnivorous or hypocarnivorous animals: those omnivorous animals that due to vegetable scarcity are forced to consume only meat during a certain time frame. They consume less than 30% meat in their total diet, such as raccoons.
Characteristics of carnivorous animals
The main characteristic of carnivorous animals is that they have a shorter digestive system than other species, because if the meat It takes a long time to digest, it begins a putrefaction process that could cause many diseases to the animal (this also happens to us humans when we eat meat, since our digestive system is longer and more similar to that of herbivorous animals). Plus, they don't need to break down the cellulose in vegetables.
Another characteristic of carnivorous animals, especially predators, is that they have a series of specialized organs to chase, hunt, catch and tear their preysuch as claws, fangs, a strong jaw, a good sense of smell, athletic and muscular bodies as in the case of felines, or even organs that secrete poison to immobilize or kill their prey like the fangs of poisonous snakes.
Examples of carnivorous animals
Next, we are going to show some examples of carnivorous animals that we can find all over the planet:
Carnivorous mammals
Within mammals, which are warm-blooded animals that feed their young through the production of milk secreted by mammary glands, the main carnivorous animals are all felines, such as the tiger, the lion, the puma or the domestic cat.
They are also carnivorous mammals all canids such as wolves, coyotes, jackals, foxes or even domestic dogs, although There is a debate around this topic. Also, hyenas as good scavengers, some mustelids such as ferrets, some bats and all cetaceans (whales, killer whales and dolphins) are also carnivorous animals. Only the polar bear is also carnivorous, unlike the rest of the bears, which are not carnivorous.
Carnivorous reptiles
Regarding reptiles, which are those vertebrate animals provided with epidermal keratin scales, those that are carnivores are all those of the family Crocodylidae, where caimans, gavial crocodiles and true crocodiles are found; all the snakes and all the sea turtles As an example of carnivorous animals belonging to the group of reptiles, we name some of the most representative snakes, crocodiles and sea turtles:
- Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
- Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta)
- Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
- Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
- Royal Python (Python regius)
- Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor)
- Gharial crocodile (Gavialis gangeticus)
- Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
- American crocodile (Crocodulus acutus)
Other carnivorous reptiles include the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) and the blind shingles(Blanus cinereus).
Carnivorous fish and amphibians
The carnivorous fish par excellence are the sharks, such as the whale shark, and some osteichthyan fish or bony fish, such as spider fish or eels. Among amphibians we find some frogs, such as those belonging to the genus Xenopus, toads and salamanders in its adult stage.
Some examples of carnivorous animals belonging to these groups are:
- Bull shark (Carcharias taurus)
- Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
- Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)
- Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)
- Lemonfish (Seriola dumerili)
- African Clawed Frog (Xenopus laevis)
- Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis)
- Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra)
Carnivorous birds
Within the birds we can differentiate the diurnal and nocturnal birds of prey or raptors. In the diurnal birds of prey we find the eagles and the hawks, and in the birds of prey nocturnal the owls and the owls
Examples of carnivorous animals are also penguins and pelicans, already mentioned above. And of course, we can't forget the vultures, great ghouls.
Carnivorous invertebrates
Some examples of carnivorous invertebrate animals, that is, animals that do not have a bony skeleton, are some crustaceans,some molluscs such as octopuses and some gastropods (such as those of the genus Powelliphanta) and also, the spiders (only exists a herbivorous species, Bagheera kiplingi), the scorpions and some insects such as the wasps or the praying mantis
Next, we name some more specific examples of the mentioned groups belonging to invertebrate animals:
- Crab (Cancer pagurus)
- Blue snow crab (Chioneocetes opilio)
- East Pacific Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens)
- Mimetic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus)
- Powelliphanta marchantii
- Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans)
- Goliath Tarantula (Theraphosa blondi)
- Palestinian yellow scorpion (Leiurus quinquestruatu)
- Black-tailed Scorpion (Androctonus bicolor)
- German Wasp (Vespula germanica)
- Asian hornet (Vespa velutina)
