Carnivore

A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, caro, genitive carnis, meaning meat or flesh and vorare meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other soft tissues) as food, whether through predation or scavenging.

Nomenclature

Mammal order

The technical term for mammals in the order Carnivora is carnivoran, and they are so-named because most member species in the group have a carnivorous diet, but the similarity of the name of the order and the name of the diet causes confusion.

Many but not all carnivorans are meat eaters; a few, such as the large and small cats (Felidae) are obligate carnivores whose diet requires nutrients found only in animal flesh. Other classes of carnivore are highly variable. The ursids (bears), for example: while the Arctic polar bear eats meat almost exclusively (more than 90% of its diet is meat), almost all other bear species are omnivorous, and one species, the giant panda, is nearly exclusively herbivorous.

Dietary carnivory is not a distinguishing trait of the order. Many mammals with highly carnivorous diets are not members of the order Carnivora. Cetaceans, for example, all eat other animals but are not carnivorans.

Carnivorous diet

Animals that depend solely on animal flesh for their nutrient requirements in nature are called hypercarnivores or obligate carnivores, whilst those that also consume non-animal food are called mesocarnivores, or facultative carnivores, or omnivores (there are no clear distinctions). A carnivore at the top of the food chain (adults not preyed upon by other animals) is termed an apex predator, regardless of whether it is an obligate or facultative carnivore.