Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Placentophagy: eating placenta; Trophallaxis: eating food regurgitated by another animal; Zoopharmacognosy: self-medication by eating plants, soils, and insects to treat and prevent disease. An opportunistic feeder sustains itself from a number of different food sources, because the species is behaviourally sufficiently flexible.
Unusually, in the Netherlands, birds were the primary food in both number (77.6%) and biomass (72%). [59] Also, in Luxembourg, eagle-owls hunted birds in general more regularly than mammals, as nearly 70% of prey remains there were avian. [107] At least six other species of pigeon and dove have also been recorded as prey.
[38] [44] [81] [82] The chukar is the most significant bird species in the diet in Nevada (at 5.4%) and the second most significant bird species in Washington state (at 11.8%). [39] [44] [45] One native North American "pheasant" known to be occasionally hunted is the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), the largest species of galliform. The ...
The main amphibian prey species from Uganda and Zambia was the African common toad (Amietophrynus regularis) while in Botswana, the main amphibian prey was the reed frog (Hyperolius viridiflavus). [4] [7] Even the largest frog in the world, the goliath frog (Conraua goliath), has reportedly been preyed on by young Nile crocodiles. [23]
Nectar-feeding is widespread among birds, but no species consumes nectar exclusively. Most combine it with insectivory for a mixed diet. Of particular interest are three lineages of specialized nectarivorous birds: the hummingbirds (Trochilidae), sunbirds (Nectariniidae) and honeyeaters (Meliphagidae). These groups have adapted to permit a ...
In certain biotopes, birds constitute the bulk of the diet of various carnivorans, e.g., of adult leopard seals that mostly prey on penguins, the Arctic fox living in coastal areas where colonies of murres, auks, gulls and other seabirds abound and stoats in New Zealand against whom flightless birds like the takahē and kiwi are defenseless.
Frogs are extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. They are an important food source for predators and part of the food web dynamics of many of the world's ecosystems. The skin is semi-permeable, making them susceptible to dehydration, so they either live in moist places or have special adaptations to deal with dry habitats.
Herbivory is of extreme ecological importance and prevalence among insects.Perhaps one third (or 500,000) of all described species are herbivores. [4] Herbivorous insects are by far the most important animal pollinators, and constitute significant prey items for predatory animals, as well as acting as major parasites and predators of plants; parasitic species often induce the formation of galls.