Insectivorous animals: characteristics and examples

Content

• What are insectivorous animals?
• Characteristics of insectivorous animals
• insectivorous animals
• insectivorous mammals
• insectivorous birds
• insectivorous reptiles
• insectivorous amphibians
• insectivorous fish

Invertebrates, especially arthropods, are animals that provide many nutrients to the animals that consume them, such as high-quality proteins and fats. In the animal kingdom, there are many beings that feed on insects and other invertebrates, including humans, and we don't need to visit countries in East Asia or Central America to observe this, because in South America itself, for example, it is very common to find these animals.

In this PeritoAnimal article, we will define what they are insectivorous animals, what are their characteristics and we will also show some of the animals that appear in the list of insectivorous animals.

What are insectivorous animals?

The term "insectivore" refers to animals whose food consists of consuming invertebrates such as arachnids, worms, snails and also insects. Insectivorous animals are those that, being vertebrate animals, base their diet on invertebrates and they couldn't survive without them. Other animals use invertebrates as a high-protein dietary supplement.

Check out some examples of vertebrate and invertebrate animals in this PeritoAnimal article.

Characteristics of insectivorous animals

Determine the general characteristics of insectivorous animals it is a very complicated task, because it is possible to find these types of animals in all vertebrate groups, from fish to mammals. Some will have all these qualities and others just one:

• Insectivorous animals that feed mainly on arthropods need a stomach with a robust surface, since the exoskeleton of arthropods is mainly composed of chitin, a material that is difficult to digest. On the other hand, arthropods are usually swallowed whole, so it's the stomach's job to mechanically digest and crush the food, so its walls need to be thick and strong.
• Many insectivorous animals have their modified language so that it becomes extremely long and sticky. This is the case for many amphibians and reptiles, but also for birds and mammals.
• Animals that don't have a long tongue to capture their prey from a distance need others. specialized agencies to get food.
• Certain insectivorous animals use the echolocation to capture your prey at night.
• Insectivorous birds have sensitive hairs around the beak called vibrissae. These hairs detect the flights of insects that pass relatively close to your head.
• Other insectivorous animals discover their prey through the smell. The nose of these animals is highly developed, as they usually look for invertebrates that are underground.
• Finally, in almost all cases, these animals have a perfect vision, capable of detecting small movements a few meters away.

insectivorous animals

The food of insectivorous animals includes mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish. Do you want to meet them? Let's talk now, in detail, about these animals and some representative species:

insectivorous mammals

In mammals, it is possible to find several examples of insectivores, each with its own characteristics and particularities. You insectivorous bats they detect prey, almost always moths, by echolocation, and they are usually very small bats. Some of their prey have also developed an echolocation organ, which may confuse bats in their attempts to capture them. Some examples of them are the big horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) or the fake-vampire-Australian (Macroderma gigas).

Another example of insectivorous mammals is the shrews, like the common shrew (Russula crocidura), the garden shrew (Mild crocidura) or the dwarf shrew (Sorex minutus). They are fearsome nocturnal predators for invertebrates, as their sense of smell is unfailing.

You hedgehogs they are also insectivorous animals. In fact, more and more people are adopting hedgehogs as pets, despite their nocturnal habits and insect-based feeding. Some species of hedgehogs are:

• Manchuria hedgehog (Erinaceus amurensis);
• Eastern Dark Hedgehog (Erinaceus concolor);
• Common or European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus);
• Balkan urchin (Erinaceus roumanicus);
• White-bellied Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris);
• Moruno urchin (Atelerix algirus);
• Somali Hedgehog (Atelerix slateri);
• South African Hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis);
• Egyptian Hedgehog (Hemiechinus auritus);
• Indian Hedgehog (Hemiechinus collaris);
• Gobi Hedgehog (Mesechinus dauuricus);
• Hug Hedgehog (Mesechinus hughi);
• Ethiopian Hedgehog (Paraechinus aethiopicus);
• Hedgehog (Paraechinus micropus);
• Brandt Hedgehog (Paraechinus hypomelas);
• Naked-bellied Hedgehog (Paraechinus nudiventris).

Likewise, in addition to his developed sense of smell, the anteater it also has a long tongue that can be inserted into an anthill or termite mound. Some species are the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), the anteater (didactylus cyclops) and the little anteater (Anteater tetradactyla).

To end this section on insectivorous mammals, let's share a video from National Geographic Spain that shows yet another insectivorous animal, the pangolin, which feeds on ants and termites:

insectivorous birds

Insectivorous birds are generally characterized by the presence of vibrissae close to the beak, as is the case of the swallows, swallows or planes. Others have developed a long, sticky tongue to capture invertebrates within tree cavities, such as the green woodpecker.

These are some species of insectivorous birds:

• Goldfinch (carduelis carduelis);
• House sparrow (passenger domesticus);
• Owl (Athene noctua);
• Gray flycatcher (Muscicapa striata);
• Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustic);
• Ventripar Swallow (murine notiochelidon);
• Thick-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis);
• Australian Swallow (Hirundo neoxen);
• Black Swallow (Hirundo nigrita);
• Black Swift (apus apus);
• Pacific Swift (Apus pacificus);
• Eastern Swift (Apus nipalensis);
• Swift-cafre (apus caffer).

insectivorous reptiles

There are also insectivorous reptiles and a clear example are the chameleons. These animals combine their long tongue with spectacular vision, being able to move their eyes independently. However, there are many other species of insectivorous reptiles that are worth knowing:

• Panther Chameleon (furcifer sparrow);
• Parson's Chameleon (Calumma parsoni);
• Bearded Dragon (pogona vitticeps);
• Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus);
• Armadillo lizard (Cordylus cataphractus);
• Santo Domingo Lizard (Leiocephalus lunatus);
• Blue gecko (Cnemidophorus lemniscatus);
• Sounding Swallow-Nose Snake (Chionactis palarostris);
• Northwestern spade nose snake (Chionactis occipitalis);
• Yellow-eared Tortoise (Trachemys scripta scripta).

insectivorous amphibians

At frogs and toads they are also insectivorous animals, in most cases. In addition to language, vision has already been studied a lot, the way they detect animals and the mechanism they use to differentiate what is food and what is not. Some species of insectivorous amphibians are:

• wild frog (Rana arvalis);
• Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora);
• Iberian frog (Iberian Rana);
• temporary frog (Temporary Rana);
• Mucous frog (Rana mucous);
• glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni);
• Wallace Flying Toad (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus);
• South African Black Toad (Breviceps fuscus);
• vietnamese frog (Theloderma corticale);
• red-eyed frog (Agalychnis callidryas);
• golden frog (Phyllobates terribilis);
• Blue bullfrog (Dendrobates azureus);
• Harlequin frog (Atelopus varius).

insectivorous fish

Between the fish we also find insectivorous species. Many freshwater fish feed on larvae developing in the water. Other fish, called archer fish, are capable of launching jets of water to catch insects outside of the water so that they fall and they can catch them.

If you want to read more articles similar to Insectivorous animals: characteristics and examples, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.