Carnivore

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For other uses, see Carnivore (disambiguation).

This tiger's sharp teeth and strong jaws are the classical physical traits expected from carnivorous mammalian predators

A carnivore (IPA: ['kɑ(r)nivɔ(r)]), meaning 'meat eater' (Latin carne meaning 'flesh' and vorare meaning 'to devour'), is an animal with a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from animals living or dead (scavenging). Some animals are considered carnivores even if their diets contain very little meat but involve preying on other animals (e.g., predatory arthropods such as spiders or mantids that may rarely consume small vertebrate prey). Animals that subsist on a diet consisting only of meat are referred to as obligate carnivores.

1 Classification
- 1.1 Obligate carnivores
2 Characteristics of carnivores
3 Plant material
4 As human food
5 List of carnivores
6 See also
- 6.1 Compare and contrast

[edit] Classification

The word "carnivore" sometimes refers to the mammals of the Order Carnivora, but this is misleading. Many (but not all) Carnivora fit the first definition of being meat eaters. For example, bears are members of Carnivora that are not true carnivores. Carnivores that eat insects primarily or exclusively are called insectivores, while those that eat fish primarily or exclusively are called piscivores.

Carnivory that entails the consumption of members of an organism's own species is referred to as cannibalism. This includes sexual cannibalism and cannibalistic infanticide.

Mammals of the crown-clade Carnivoramorpha (Carnivora and Miacoidea without Creodonta), along with the early Order Creodonta, and some mammals of the even early Order Cimolesta, were true carnivores. The earliest carnivorous mammal is considered to be the Cimolestes that existed during the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods in North America about 65 million years ago^{[citation needed]}. The theropod dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex that existed during the late Cretaceous, although not mammals, were obligate carnivores.

There are also several genera and a few hundred species of carnivorous plants, though these are primarily insectivorous.

In contrast to the tiger, these Emperor penguins show that teeth and claws are not necessary to be a carnivore. They feed on crustaceans, fish, squid, and other small marine life.

[edit] Obligate carnivores

Main article: Obligate carnivore

An obligate or true carnivore is an animal that subsists on a diet consisting only of meat. They may consume other products presented to them, especially animal products like cheese and bone marrow or sweet sugary substances like honey and syrup, but, as these items are not essential, they do not consume these on a regular basis. True carnivores lack the physiology required for the efficient digestion of vegetable matter, and, in fact, some carnivorous mammals eat vegetation specifically as an emetic.

[edit] Characteristics of carnivores

Characteristics commonly 'associated' with carnivores include organs for capturing and disarticulating prey (teeth and claws serve these functions in many vertebrates) and status as a hunter. In truth, these assumptions may be misleading, as some carnivores do not hunt and are scavengers (though most hunting carnivores will scavenge when the opportunity exists). Thus they do not have the characteristics associated with hunting carnivores.

[edit] Plant material

In most cases, some plant material is essential for adequate nutrition, particularly with regard to minerals, vitamins and fiber. Most wild carnivores consume this in the digestive system of their prey. Many carnivores also eat herbivore dung, presumably to obtain essential nutrients that they could not otherwise obtain, since their dentition and digestive system do not permit efficient processing of vegetable matter.

[edit] As human food

Carnivores are forbidden to be eaten according to Jewish and Islamic dietary laws. Carnivores are not efficiently used as food animals^{[citation needed]} because of their high trophic level, though some, such as alligators and tuna, are still eaten by humans.