Do you know how and what animals eat helps to classify them in the animal kingdom?
All living organisms need food to grow and remain healthy. Food gives us energy to work and play.
What is feeding?
Feeding is the process by which an animal obtains its food. The method used and how the food is assimilated in the body after ingesting, the digestive process and the process of elimination are all extremely important processes that determine evolution of living organisms. Infact it is so important, it determines a living organism’s presence and role in the food chain and also in the ecology of the planet.
What is a food chain?
A food chain is a linear sequence or order of living things, which are dependent on the other for food. In this order one living thing depends on the other for its food. All food chains begin with a green plant or a plant like organism, which uses available atmospheric conditions to manufacture its own food. Except the first organism, every other organism is a consumer.
Grass — butterfly — frog —- snake —-eagle or any similar ones
What is the difference between herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and scavengers?
Herbivores : Animals like cows , buffaloes , sheep etc., that eat plants.
Carnivores : Animals like lions, tigers, etc., that prey on and eat other animals.
Omnivores : Animals like bears, crows etc., that eat both plants and animals.
Scavengers : Animals like vultures and jackals that eat dead and left over animals generally preyed on by carnivores.
Feeding habits of different animals
Let us enter the animal world and see how some animals eat their food.
- Animals like squirrels, rabbits and rats feed on hard grains and nuts. They bite these hard nuts with very sharp front cutting teeth. This is called Gnawing.
- Animals like snakes do not have chewing teeth, they do not chew their food instead they swallow their food whole.
- Animals like frogs have a long sticky tongue to catch its prey. When a frog spots an insect, it sticks out its tongue and catches its prey, then it rolls back its tongue back into its mouth.
- Insects like bees and butterflies have a long tube to suck nectar from plants.
- Animals like cows and buffaloes have a special way of eating their food, they first swallow their food whole and fill their stomach, later they bring it back into their mouth and keep chewing it for hours. This is known as chewing the cud.
- Dogs and cats use their tongue to lap up their food.
- There are some animals like giraffe that use their long necks and the elephant that uses it trunk to take in food.