We can say that the animals that live in the jungle are called wild animals. The jungle is the natural habitat for wild animals and they happily stay together like a family in a jungle. However, this family consists of a different animal with different food habits.
Table of Contents
Some wild animals eat green plants & trees for food, whereas some others eat meat. We are able to see a wonderful food chain moving on successfully and in this food chain, all the animals depend on each other.
Everyone needs food to survive and so does wild animals. If we discussed the food habits of wild animals this varies from animal to animal. Let us understand the food habits of wild animals in more detail.
Food habits of different wild animals
The food chain of a forest ecosystem consists of different animals that include plant-eating animals, flesh-eating animals and others who eat both plants & animals. The digestive system of each animal is designed according to their food habits.
Their digestive system has the power to digest easily what they eat. Not only the digestive system but their teeth are also designed according to their food types. The food habits of wild animals are classified as follows.
Wild Animals that eat plants
Herbivorous are animals that eat plants. These animals Depend only on plants and trees to fulfil their need for food. The herbivores mostly focus on eating leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds of different plants and trees.
Animals like giraffe, koala, monkey, zebra, elephant, etc. are common examples of herbivores animals in a wildlife ecosystem.
Animals have a good digestive system for digesting plant food. The front big teeth of herbivores animals are specially designed to cut & chew the plant and leaves.
This type of teeth is termed as incisors. Herbivores also have molar teeth that help to grind the food for easy digestion.
Herbivorous animals are of different sizes. The big animals such as elephants, need a lot of food to stay energetic and to satisfy their hunger. This is why big sized herbivores spend most of their time in a day in eating food.
Relatively small-sized animals required little less food as compared to big herbivores. Small herbivores like squirrels need ample food to fulfil their food requirements in a day.
Pic credit – worldatlas.com
Wild Animals that eat the meat
Animals who depend on other animals for eating flesh are known as carnivores. The carnivores animals are at the top of the food chain. Carnivores have to eat a lot of food to be energetic.
This is why the carnivores spend most of the time in hunting for food to satisfy their hunger for food. The carnivorous animals have big canine teeth and sharp molar teeth to cut & chew their food.
The big carnivorous animals such as lions, tigers, etc. Some birds such as hawks, eagles, etc. also come under the carnivorous category. Small-sized carnivores include frogs, spiders, etc.
Carnivorous animals play an important role in population control of other animals in a forest ecosystem.
Pic credit – Pinterest.com
Wild Animals that eat both plant and animal
The animals that eat both plants and animals are known as omnivores. Omnivores wild animals have the characteristics of both herbivores & carnivores and are often called as opportunists. The best advantage of omnivorous animals is that they have an open range of options available to satisfy their hunger.
The food options for these animals is available all year round because they can eat anything when they feel hungry. For example- omnivorous animals can eat fruits and nuts in the summer season, whereas in other seasons it can opt for other food options like meat.
This is the reason, omnivores have all variety of teeth like incisors, canines, molars, etc. to eat different types of food.
A very good example of an omnivorous animal is bear. Bear is a big size omnivorous animal. Bear loves to eat fish. Bears also eat plants. Racoon is an example of a medium-sized omnivorous animal.
Small-sized omnivorous birds can eat both insects and plants. One of the best features of omnivores is that they can survive in any kind of environment such as desert, rainy place, arctic, etc.
Pic credit animals.sandiegozoo.org
Wild Animals that eat insects
Insectivorous are animals that eat insects. Insectivores are also one of the kind of carnivores that depends on insects to survive. Moles, moonrats, shrews, etc. are some of the examples of insectivores.
Insectivores are generally small-sized animals with small eyes, ears and a long snout. These animals have very strong hearing sensation.
Insectivores are nocturnal by nature. These animals rely on insects and other invertebrates like spiders & worms to get energy by eating them. These animals use their strong smell sensation to hunt for food.
Pic Credit – WorldAtlas.com
Wild Animals that eat remains of dead animals
Scavengers are the animals who eat the remains of dead animals. Scavengers are also a kind of carnivores but the only difference is that they feed on leftover flesh of dead animals. After scavengers, the decomposers complete the process by consuming the remains of scavengers.
Scavengers play a vital role in the wildlife ecosystem by consuming dead animals. Vulture is an excellent example of a scavenger. They help to clean the ecosystem by decomposing remains of the dead bodies of animals.
Scavengers help to break down the organic material and recycle it into the ecosystem in the form of nutrients.
Pic credit – Whatdewhat
A wildlife ecosystem consists of a huge variety of animal species. The wildlife ecosystem includes all kinds of animals like herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, scavengers, etc.
Each animal plays an important role in the wildlife ecosystem and depends on each other for food. Each animal helps to maintain the population of other species in the ecosystem.
Every category of the animal differs from the other in terms of their food habits as mentioned above but they all depend on each other. These animals together make an ecosystem and play their role to survive.
Unfortunately, some of these animal species are becoming instinct slowly. We should work together to save these animals to maintain the proper balance in the ecosystem.
