Carnivore - Meeting the Meat-Eaters

If ever a lion is looking at you like this, it's time to run. Or play dead. Or climb a tree. I don't actually know what to do.
(photo by Martin "About to be Eaten" Falsbisoner)

CARNIVORE

Noun. Mid-19th century.

[French, from Latin carnivorus: see next.]

A carnivorous animal;

a member of the order Carnivora of mainly carnivorous mammals 

(including dogs, cats, bears, seals, etc.).

Also, a carnivorous plant. 

CARNIVOROUS

Adjective. Late 16th century.

[Latin carnivorus from caro, carn- flesh: see -VOROUS.]

1 Feeding on flesh; preying on other animals;

ZOOLOGY belonging to the order Carnivora (see preceding). L16

2 Of plants: able to absorb and digest animals substances. M19

Also:

carnivorously adverb M19

carnivory noun carnivorous behaviour. E20

Of all the vores, the meat-munching carnivore gets all the attention. And there's quite a few vores to contend with: omnivores, herbivores, insectivores, piscivores, planktivores, avivores, vermivores, etc, etc, munch, munch, munch. For sheer impact, though, nothing beats seeing one living creature munching on the vanquished carcass of another. There's a reason that the documentarians never linger gleefully on the herds of zebra chewing grass; it's far more interesting to see prides of lions chewing on zebra. Etymologically, carnivore isn't an a particularly interesting word - its root is a simple fusion of the Latin for 'meat' and 'eater'. However, what is interesting is that animals aren't as easily categorised as carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, etc, as one might think, as there's considerable overlap between such definitions (a bird-butchering avivore, for example, must be a carnivore too). The exact characteristics of what puts what animal in what category aren't even universally agreed upon. Within the broad definition of carnivore (that which feeds on flesh), there are also equally broads definitions as to the type of carnivore an animal is. Below is a list of five of the main types:

Photo by S.Taheri

Obligate Carnivore

An obligate carnivore quite simply has to have meat (it's obligated) as it can only meet its nutritional requirements through the consumption of flesh. Physiologically, they lack the digestive functions to process plant and vegetable matter, so there's absolutely no point in trying to convince little Whiskers to be a vegetarian as he's unable to synthesize certain vital nutrients or obtain them from anything other than meat. Occasionally, obligate carnivores will consume other materials for non-nutritional purposes (as an emetic, for example).

Examples: Cats (felidae), from Tiddles to tigers, are obligate carnivores, as are polar bears and snakes.

Photo by Daniel Mott

Facultative Carnivore

A facultative carnivore has the faculty to digest and obtain nutrients from both flesh and plant material. It might even be able to live for a time on one or the other. The proportion of meat in its natural diet will determine whether it's a facultative hypercarnivore, mesocarnivore or hypocarnivore.

Examples: Dogs and wolves.

Photo by Ansgar Walk

Hypercarnivore

A hypercarnivore (not a hyper carnivore) has a diet consisting of more than 70% meat,
though they may supplement it with some plant matter unless they're an obligate carnivore too.

Examples: Cats, polar bears, dolphins, orcas, eagles and sharks.

Photo by Karen Arnold

Mesocarnivore

A mesocarnivore's diet is between 50-70% meat. By human standards, that's still an awful lot.

Examples: Coyotes, skunks and many species of fox.

Photo by Harvey Barrison

Hypocarnivore

The lightweights of the carnivore world, a hypocarnivore's diet consists of less than 30% meat.
They sometimes get teased by other, more hardcore carnivores.

Examples: Black bears, binturongs and raccoons.

Are you a carnivore?

What percentage of your diet is meat?

Are you really going to tell me that your cat is a strict vegetarian?

Do please leave your most well done comments below.