Feeding

Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. There are many types of feeding that animals exhibit, including:


 * filter feeding - obtaining food suspended in the water column
 * deposit feeding - obtaining food particles in soil
 * fluid feeding - obtaining food by consuming other organisms fluids
 * bulk feeding - obtaining food by eating pieces of other organisms or swallowing them whole
 * phagocytosis - engulfing food with cell membrane

Another classification refers to the food groups some animals specialize in, such as:


 * Carnivore - meat
 * Detritivore - decomposing material
 * Folivore - leaves
 * Frugivore - fruits
 * Granivore - seeds
 * Herbivore - plants
 * Insectivore - insects
 * Nectarivore - nectar
 * Omnivore - plants and meat
 * Piscivore - fishes
 * Sanguinivore - blood
 * Saprovore - dead matter
 * Etc.

There are also several food sources which have caused the development of specialized feeding behaviors, such as:


 * Ophiophagy: feeding on snakes
 * Hematophagy: feeding on blood
 * Coprophagy: feeding on faeces
 * Cannibalism: feeding on members of the same species
 * Trophallaxis: regurgitation of food to another animal
 * Paedophagy: feeding on the young of other species
 * Lepidophagy: of fish, feeding on the scales of other fish

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