By mode of ingestion There are many modes of feeding that animals exhibit, including: •
Filter feeding: A form of food procurement in which food particles or small organisms are randomly strained from 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 all of an organism. •
Ram feeding and
suction feeding: ingesting prey via the fluids around it.
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 Polyphagy is the habit in an animal species, of eating and tolerating a relatively wide variety of foods, whereas
monophagy is the intolerance of every food except for one specific type (see
generalist and specialist species).
Oligophagy is a term for intermediate degrees of selectivity, referring to animals that eat a relatively small range of foods, either because of preference or necessity. Another classification refers to the specific food animals specialize in eating, such as: •
Carnivore: the eating of animals •
Araneophagy: eating spiders •
Avivore: eating birds •
Corallivore: eating coral •
Durophagy: eating
hard-shelled or
exoskeleton bearing organisms •
Egg predator: eating eggs (but also see "
Intrauterine cannibalism" below), also
Ovivore •
Haematophage/Sanguivore: eating blood •
Insectivore: eating insects •
Myrmecophage: eating ants and/or termites •
Invertivore: eating
invertebrates •
Keratophagy or
Ceratophagy: eating
keratin-based material, such as wool by
cloths moths, or snakes eating their own skin after
ecdysis. •
Lepidophagy: eating fish scales •
Molluscivore: eating molluscs •
Mucophagy: eating mucus •
Ophiophagy: eating snakes •
Piscivore: eating fish • Anurophagy: eating frogs •
Spongivore: eating sponges • Teuthophagore: eating mainly squid and other cephalopods •
Vermivore: eating worms • Zooplanktonivore: eating zooplankton •
Herbivore: the eating of plants •
Exudativore: eating plant and/or insect
exudates (
gum,
sap,
lerp, etc.) •
Gummivore: eating tree sap or gum •
Folivore: eating leaves •
Florivore: eating flower tissue prior to seed coat formation •
Frugivore: eating fruits •
Graminivore: eating grasses •
Granivore: eating seeds •
Nectarivore: eating nectar •
Palynivore: eating pollen •
Xylophage: eating wood •
Algivore: eating
algae (both
macroalgae and
microalgae) • Phytoplanktonivore: eating
phytoplankton •
Omnivore: the eating of both plants, animals, fungi, bacteria etc. The term means "all-eater". • By amount of meat in diet •
Hypercarnivore: more than 70% meat •
Mesocarnivore: 30–70% meat •
Hypocarnivore: less than 30% meat •
Fungivore: the eating of fungus •
Bacterivore: the eating of bacteria The eating of non-living or decaying matter: •
Coprophage: eating faeces •
Detritivore: eating particulate decaying organic matter •
Geophagia: eating inorganic earth •
Necrophage: eating carrion •
Osteophage: eating bones •
Saprophage: eating or
metabolising decaying organic matter •
Scavenger: eating carrion, refuse or other decaying organic matter There are also several unusual feeding behaviours, either normal,
opportunistic, or pathological, such as: •
Cannibalism: feeding on members of the same species •
Anthropophagy: the practice of eating
human flesh •
Autocannibalism: feeding on parts of one's own body (see also
autophagy) •
Filial cannibalism •
Intrauterine cannibalism •
Oophagy or ovophagy: the embryo/foetus eats sibling eggs •
Embryophagy: the foetus eats sibling embryos •
Sexual cannibalism: cannibalism after mating •
Kleptoparasitism: stealing food from another animal •
Kleptopharmacophagy: act of stealing chemical compounds for consumption •
Lignophagia: eating wood, typically a pathological condition in some domestic animals •
Paedophagy: eating young animals •
Pica: appetite for largely non-nutritive substances, e.g. clay or hair, sometimes in pregnancy or in pathological states, typically a medical or veterinary concern. •
Placentophagy: eating placenta •
Trophallaxis: eating food regurgitated by another animal •
Zoopharmacognosy:
self-medication by eating
plants,
soils, and
insects to treat and prevent disease. An opportunistic feeder sustains itself from a number of different food sources, because the species is behaviourally sufficiently flexible. ==Storage behaviours==