carnivore

(noun)

any animal that eats meat as the main part of its diet

Related Terms

Examples of carnivore in the following topics:

  • Herbivores, Omnivores, and Carnivores

    • Animals can be carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores in their eating strategies.
    • Carnivores are animals that eat other animals.
    • Obligate carnivores are those that rely entirely on animal flesh to obtain their nutrients; examples of obligate carnivores are members of the cat family.
    • Note that there is no clear line that differentiates facultative carnivores from omnivores; dogs would be considered facultative carnivores.
    • Carnivores such as the (a) lion eat primarily meat.

  • Class Scyphozoa

    • Scyphozoans are free-swimming, polymorphic, dioecious, and carnivorous cnidarians with a prominent medusa morphology.
    • Scyphozoans live most of their life cycle as free-swimming, solitary carnivores.

  • Food Chains and Food Webs

    • Secondary consumers are usually carnivores that eat the primary consumers, while tertiary consumers are carnivores that eat other carnivores.
    • As an example, a grazing food web has plants or other photosynthetic organisms at its base, followed by herbivores and various carnivores.

  • Modern Reptiles

    • Most lizards are carnivorous, but some large species, such as iguanas, are herbivores.
    • All snakes are carnivorous, eating small animals, birds, eggs, fish, and insects.

  • Evolution of Mammals

    • Throughout the Permian period, the synapsids included the dominant carnivores and several important herbivores.
    • Later in the Mesozoic, after theropod dinosaurs replaced rauisuchians as the dominant carnivores, mammals spread into other ecological niches.

  • Post-Cambrian Evolution and Mass Extinctions

    • Plants died, herbivores and carnivores starved, and the mostly cold-blooded dinosaurs ceded their dominance of the landscape to more warm-blooded mammals.

  • The Role of Energy and Metabolism

    • Carnivores eat the herbivores, and decomposers digest plant and animal matter.

  • The Purpose and Process of Photosynthesis

    • Carnivores eat other animals and herbivores eat plants.

  • Characteristics of the Animal Kingdom

    • As heterotrophs, animals may be carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, or parasites .

  • Characteristics and Evolution of Amphibians

    • All extant adult amphibians are carnivorous.