Examples of Omnivores

Some animals eat both plants and animals. They are omnivores. Omnivores include mammals like grizzly bears, striped skunks, and raccoons and birds like crows, blue jays, and woodpeckers.

Because they eat plants and animals, omnivores survive well in many environments. Some omnivores, like the raccoon, the opossum, and the seagull have no problem adapting to living near humans. They often dig through garbage cans, dumpsters, and gardens to find food.

What Are Omnivores?

An omnivore is a kind of animal that eats either other animals or plants. Some omnivores will hunt and eat their food, like carnivores, eating herbivores, and other omnivores. Some others are scavengers and will eat dead matter. Many will eat eggs from other animals.

Omnivores eat plants, but not all kinds of plants. Unlike herbivores, omnivores can’t digest some of the substances in grains or other plants that do not produce fruit. They can eat fruits and vegetables, though. Some of the insect omnivores in this simulation are pollinators, which are very important to the life cycle of some kinds of plants.

Human beings are omnivores. People eat plants, such as vegetables and fruits. We eat animals, cooked as meat, or used for products like milk or eggs. We eat fungi such as mushrooms. We also eat algae, in the form of edible seaweeds such as nori, which are used to wrap sushi rolls, and sea lettuce, eaten in salads.

Bears are omnivores, too. They eat plants like berries as well as mushroom fungi and animals like salmon or deer.

What Do Omnivores Eat?

An omnivore is an organism that eats a variety of other organisms, including plants, animals, and fungi.

You may think this leads to a balanced diet — like the menu for a typical omnivorous human — but most omnivores eat one food over the other. For example, juvenile bearded dragons should eat 80 percent protein and 20 percent plant material, while those percentages are reversed in their adult years.

Most omnivorous species will eat mostly protein or mostly vegetation. Another example would be the gray squirrel, which eats mostly nuts but will also eat insects and even small birds.

Size

Animal omnivores (including humans) come in many different sizes. The largest terrestrial omnivore is the endangered Kodiak bear. It can grow up to 10 feet tall (3.04 meters) and weigh up to 1,500 lbs. (680 kilograms), according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Kodiaks eat grass, plants, fish, berries, and the occasional mammal.

Ants may be the smallest omnivores. One of the smallest ants is the pharaoh ant, which grows to only 0.04 to 0.08 inches (1 to 2 millimeters), according to the University of Michigan. They eat a variety of foods that include eggs, carrion, insects, body fluids, nuts, seeds, grains, fruit nectar, sap, and fungus.

Animals That Are Omnivores

Most birds are omnivores. Robins pull worms from the ground. They also feast on berries. Ostriches graze on plants and grasses. They also eat lizards and insects.

Many mammals are omnivorous. Skunks eat rodents, lizards, honeybees, leaves, grasses, nuts, fungi, and almost anything else they can find.

Some reptiles are also omnivorous. Box turtles feed on fish, frogs, rodents, and many other creatures, but they also eat flowers, berries, and roots.

Fish can also be omnivorous. The Coast of North Americat feeds mostly on seaweeds along the Pacific Coast of North America, also eats small creatures found among the seaweed.

Some insects are omnivores. Ants eat seeds, nectar, and, often, other insects.

Some omnivores are scavengers, creatures that eat the meat of dead animals. Black bears eat mostly nuts, berries, and other fruit. But if they find a dead animal, they eat it.

Many animals that are often thought of as carnivores are in fact omnivores. Red foxes, for example, prey on rabbits, but they also eat fruit.

Some animals that are thought of as herbivores also eat animals. Squirrels eat mostly nuts, fruits, and seeds, but they sometimes eat insects, small birds, and other creatures.

Examples of omnivores include:

Raccoon

Raccoons are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they will eat whatever is available and convenient. They consume many items, such as fruits, nuts, insects, fish, grains, rodents, small mammals, birds, turtles, eggs, and carrion.

They are also notorious for rooting around residential and city trash cans, eating everything from spoiled human food to the rats running around the dumpster. However, these animals prefer living next to a water source, where they can easily dine on fish, insects, and amphibians.

Red Fox

A widely distributed species, the red fox is found across the world, from North America to northern Africa, Europe, temperate Asia, and even Australia, where they were introduced in the 19th century. They occur in a variety of habitats, from the Arctic tundra to deserts and urban systems. Just like their range and habitat, the diet of these foxes is also highly varied.

They hunt mice, rabbits, birds, and other animals, feed on carrion and eggs, and even fruits, grains, garbage, and whatever food is available. These omnivorous animals are excellent opportunistic feeders.

Gorilla

Gorillas are the largest of the primates. Western Gorillas are social animals living in units called Harems. Western Gorillas eat mostly plants, fruits, bamboo, and bark but will eat invertebrates, making them omnivores. A mature male gorilla (12 years old or older) is often referred to as a silverback.

American black bear

American Black bears are omnivores, with up to 85% percent of their diet consisting of vegetation. They are exceptional foragers. They will also hunt young deer and eat fish. Black bears don’t actually have good eyesight, but their other senses are heightened.

Pig

Pigs are naturally omnivores. In the wild, they spend much of their time foraging for plants, like bulbs, leaves, and roots. But they will also eat insects, worms, rodents, rabbits, small reptiles, and amphibians. On occasion, they can even eat carrion (dead animals).

But many pigs live on farms, where they are fed a diet of corn, soy, wheat, and barley. Those raised in captivity don’t have to worry too much about finding food. But on their own, they rely on their keen sense of smell, using their snout to root around for the nearest food source.

Crow

Around one-third of a crow’s diet comes from seeds and fruits. But they are not picky eaters and will consume what is readily available. They eat rodents, baby birds, eggs, small reptiles, insects, amphibians, seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, and carrion.

Crows use their olfactory system, like many animals, to find food. But they are also extremely resourceful and can use tools, like sticks, to seek food. They may even wade in the water to snatch swimming prey.

Wild boar

Wild boar, also known as Wild pigs, look much different than their domesticated counterparts. Boar can be found on almost every continent. In the wild, Wild Boar eat a wide range of food: eating carrion, eggs, small rodents, fruits, nuts, roots, and various plant life. Wild boar use their snouts to dig up roots and bulbs.

Badger

While badgers are considered omnivores, 80% of their diet is comprised of earthworms. These feisty mammals can eat hundreds of earthworms in one night.

But they also eat rodents, fruits, bulbs, snakes, slugs, insects, frogs, lizards, seeds, berries, and bird’s eggs. Badgers use their long, sharp claws to dig up worms, rodents, and insects. They may even plug up rodent holes to force them out of hiding.

Chipmunks

Siberian chipmunks are native to Asia and Europe. A chipmunk can expand its cheeks up to 3x its head. They use their cheek pouches to store food, to carry it back to their burrow. Chipmunk burrows consist of two parts, a sleeping den and the other is for giving birth.

Siberian chipmunks eat a wide variety of foods. Their diet consists of seeds, grains, fruits, vegetables, fungi, insects, small birds, and reptiles.

Ants

Ants are one of the earliest species that are present on the Earth. They belong to the family of Formicidae, along with bees and wasps.

Ants have more than 10,000 known species around the world. Ants are known to consume both food grains and insects, thus making them perfect omnivores.

Dog

Dogs are one of the most often domesticated animals. Dogs can survive on both meat and plant products.

Fish

Fishes, though they live underwater, eat not only underwater mosses or plants but also small fishes, plankton, and other microbes.

Human Beings

Human beings are mammals who can survive both on plant and animal products. They can also survive on either one of them.

Related Posts: