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Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. [1] While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding behavior. [2] Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by consuming dead animal and plant ...
The terms detritivore and decomposer are often used interchangeably, but they describe different organisms. Detritivores are usually arthropods and help in the process of remineralization. Detritivores perform the first stage of remineralization, by fragmenting the dead plant matter, allowing decomposers to perform the second stage of ...
Many invertebrates, such as the carrion and burying beetles, [6] as well as maggots of calliphorid flies (such as one of the most important species in Calliphora vomitoria) and flesh-flies, also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains. [7] Zoarcid fish feeding on the carrion of a mobulid ray.
Oligophagy is a term for intermediate degrees of selectivity, referring to animals that eat a relatively small range of foods, either because of preference or necessity. [2] Another classification refers to the specific food animals specialize in eating, such as: Carnivore: the eating of animals Araneophagy: eating spiders; Avivore: eating birds
[citation needed] Typical saprophagic animals include sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (Amphitritinae, worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. The activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous.
Necrophages are organisms that obtain nutrients by consuming decomposing dead animal biomass, such as the muscle and soft tissue of carcasses and corpses. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The term derives from Greek nekros , meaning 'dead', and phagein , meaning 'to eat.' [ 1 ] Mainly, necrophages are species within the phylum Arthropoda ; however, other ...
Necrophagous species are insects/arthropods that feed directly on remains, or the fluids released from remains during the decomposition process. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] This ecological classification includes many species of the order Diptera (true flies) from the families Calliphoridae (blowflies) and Sarcophagidae (flesh flies), and some species of the ...
When animals eat seeds (seed predation or granivory) or eggs (egg predation), they are consuming entire living organisms, which by definition makes them predators. [6] [7] [8] Scavengers, organisms that only eat organisms found already dead, are not predators, but many predators such as the jackal and the hyena scavenge when the opportunity arises.