We explain what insectivorous animals are, their characteristics and examples of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and more.
What are insectivorous animals?
In biology, insectivores are those carnivorous animals that have a diet composed exclusively or mostly of insects.
If we take into account that insects are the most numerous and diverse class of living beings on our planet (representing 90% of all life that exists), we will understand that they are part of the favorite diet of many species of living beings, despite that, for entirely cultural reasons, the human being is not commonly one of them.
Insectivorous animals are also diverse and numerous, and may be specialized in the predation of certain types of insects, or of any one, as is the case of the anteater, whose name already tells us what type of insects constitute its favorite dish. Many insects survive on insectivorous diets and there are even plants that extract nutrients from the insects they manage to catch and digest (the famous carnivorous plants).
This gives us an idea of the ecological importance of insects throughout the world, and therefore, of the insectivorous animals that keep their populations in check, playing a vital role in the food chain and in the balance of ecosystems. We can find them in almost all habitats where there are insects, in some cases even under the surface of the water.
In the case of human beings, finally, the consumption of insects is not usually popular among the cultures of the world, except in certain specific regions, where they are part of the ancestral heritage, such as Mexican grasshoppers or Mexican dishes. with Asian ants.
General characteristics of insectivores
The only common characteristic of insectivorous animals is that they eat insects. The insects they eat and what strategies they use to hunt them can vary greatly depending on the species as well as the habitat in which they live and prey.
In many cases, however, a diet specialized in insects is accompanied by adaptations of the body to capture them more easily, sometimes directly into their burrows, or acute perception methods to find them (sight, smell, etc.). It is also possible that they develop symbiotic relationships with other larger living beings, devouring the insects that parasitize them, such as ticks and bed bugs.
Insectivorous mammals
More than 400 species of mammals feed on the insects they hunt. tend to be small in size and many of them have special adaptations to better satisfy their diet, such as sticky tongues to insert into nests (like the so-called anteater) or location systems (like bats).
Instead, others have learned to use certain techniques or tools to feed themselves like some apes who insert a branch into a nest to put insects in their mouths.
Some species of mammals that eat insects include bats, anteaters, mongooses, mongooses, meerkats, moles, mice, porcupines, pangolins, and armadillos, as well as some species of apes.
insectivorous birds
An immense number of small and medium-sized birds are totally or partially insectivorous. They usually hunt flying insects directly in the air, or on the branches of trees, especially when it is caterpillar season and these nutritious larvae make their appearance on the leaves of the plants.
Some birds have specialized beaks that allow you to drill into the wood and extract the insects that nest in it or dig them up during their larval stages.
Species such as the robin, goldfinch, nightingale, thrushes, swallows, larks, blackbirds, starlings, woodpeckers and some species of magpies are purely insectivorous. On the other hand, omnivorous species such as chickens, ducks and turkeys, on the other hand, usually complement a good part of their diet through the ingestion of insects.
Insectivorous reptiles and amphibians
Insects are the preferred prey of many species of small reptiles as well as some species during their growth, since later their diet is replaced by meat from larger animals. Amphibians are a notorious case, especially frogs and toads that have agile and sticky tongues with which to catch insects and swallow them without chewing.
Examples of insectivorous reptiles and amphibians are: chameleons, lizards, some species of snakes, toads, frogs and salamanders, newts and baby crocodiles.
Insectivorous arthropods
Just because they are insects does not stop some species from eating other insects. In fact, the most numerous insect predators on the planet are themselves, or other arthropods like spiders or scorpions. The former, above all, are famous hunters of flying insects, thanks to their almost invisible fabrics in which they wait for an unsuspecting insect to become attached.
Other large insect predators are mantises (or the “praying mantis”), whose upper limbs are agile pincers with which to grab other insects to devour them alive, and even some species of wasps, flies and ants that usually hunt other insects. to feed their young.
insectivorous fish
The fish feed on insects that fall into the water, or that reproduce on the surface of lakes or rivers or that they do some type of amphibious life. There are even species that spit jets of water from their mouths to knock down insects so they can later devour them, such as the archer fish (Toxotes jaculatrix).
Carp, spitter fish, catfish, and numerous other opportunistic species are examples of fish that eat insects.
insectivorous plants
In addition to the animals that we have already named, we must mention the carnivorous plants, whose name would have to be insectivores, since they are insects that they manage to catch and digest through different mechanisms of seduction and deception.
To achieve this, they emit an intense smell – very sweet or, on the contrary, similar to that of decomposed meat – to attract unsuspecting insects that, believing that they are about to feast, enter their flowers or their different specialized ducts. , from which they later fail to get out.
Depending on the plant species, this strategy may include sticky secretions, leaves that close over the insect, or long, slippery tubes through which they fail to return to the surface. Examples of these plants are those of the genus Utricularia, Nepenthales, Genlisea, Heliamphora, Sarracenia or the famous Dionaea muscipulaknown as “Venus flytrap”.
Continue with: Herbivorous animals
References
- “Insectivore” on Wikipedia.
- “Insectivores: they eat what others fear” (video) in El Universal (Mexico).
- “Insectivorous mammals: what are they?” in Very Interesting.
- “Insectivore” in the Dictionary of the language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
