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Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffix -vore from Latin vorare, meaning 'to devour', or phagy, from Greek φαγειν, meaning 'to eat'.
Polyphagy is the ability of an animal to eat a variety of food, whereas monophagy is the intolerance of every food except of one specific type (see generalist and specialist species).
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Classification
By mode of ingestion
There are many modes of feeding that animals exhibit, including:
- filter feeding - obtaining nutrients from particles suspended in water
- deposit feeding - obtaining nutrients from particles suspended in soil
- fluid feeding - obtaining nutrients by consuming other organisms' fluids
- bulk feeding - obtaining nutrients by eating part or all of an organism
By mode of digestion
- Extra-cellular digestion - excreting digesting enzymes and then reabsorbing the products
- Myzocytosis - one cell pierces another using a feeding tube, and sucks out cytoplasm
- Phagocytosis - engulfing food matter into living cells, where it is digested
By food type
Another classification refers to the specific food animals specialize in eating, such as:
- Carnivore - the eating of animals
- Hematophagy - eating blood
- Insectivore - eating insects
- Lepidophagy - eating fish scales
- Man-eater - eating humans
- Molluscivore - eating molluscs
- Mucophagy - eating mucus
- Ophiophagy - eating snakes
- Piscivore - eating fish
- Spongivore - eating sponges
- Herbivore - the eating of plants
- Folivore - eating leaves
- Frugivore - eating fruits
- Graminivore - eating grasses
- Granivore - eating seeds
- Nectarivore - eating nectar
- Palynivore - eating pollen
- Xylophagy - eating wood
- Omnivore - the eating of both plants and animals
- Fungivore - the eating of fungus
- Bacterivore - the eating of bacteria
The eating of non-living or decaying matter:
- Coprophagy - eating faeces
- Detritivore - eating decomposing material
- Geophagy - eating inorganic earth
- Scavenger - eating carrion
There are also several unusual food sources which can give rise to opportunistic or desperate feeding behaviours, such as:
- Cannibalism - feeding on members of the same species
- Self-cannibalism - feeding on parts of one's own body (see also autophagy)
- Sexual cannibalism - cannibalism after mating
- Kleptoparasitism - stealing food from another animal
- Trophallaxis - eating food regurgitated by another animal
- Oophagy - eating eggs
- Ovophagy - eating embryos
- Paedophagy - eating young animals
- Placentophagy - eating placenta
Evolutionary adaptations
In many instances, the specialization of organisms in a specific type of food source has been one of the major causes of evolution of form and function, such as:
- mouth parts and teeth, such as in whales, vampire bats, leeches, mosquitos, predatory animals such as felines and fishes, etc
- distinct forms of beaks in birds, such as in hawks, woodpeckers, pelicans, hummingbirds, parrots, kingfishers, etc.
- specialized claws and other appendages, for apprehending or killing (including fingers in primates)
- changes in body colour for facilitating camouflage, disguise, setting up traps for preys, etc.
- changes in the digestive system, such as the system of stomachs of herbivores, commensalism and symbiosis
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