Herbivores, Carnivores,

and Omnivores
Worksheets
 Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts

Animals can be classified based on the food they eat. Animals

that are plant eaters are called herbivores, meat-eaters are
carnivores, and animals who eat both plants and meat are called
omnivores.
Herbivores
★ Animals that eat only plants and plant products are called
herbivores.
★ They are referred to as the primary consumers.
★ Herbivores are usually at the second level of the energy pyramid.
★ The energy that herbivores need is high, so they are usually busy
feeding themselves because they cannot survive without
sufficient energy.
★ They use several defenses to protect themselves from their
enemies. KIDSKONNECT.COM
Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts
★ Some have shells, poisons that
they release from their body, and
camouflage abilities.
★ Herbivores come in various sizes,
and the world’s largest herbivore
is the African elephant.
African Elephant

Types of Herbivores

★ Herbivores can either eat various plants or just one type of

plant.
★ Herbivores such as fruit bats and flying foxes that consume only
fruits are called frugivores.
★ Folivores are herbivores that mostly eat leaves.
★ Detritivores are those that eat dead plant materials only.
★ Herbivores that consume seeds are called granivores.
★ Nectar-eating herbivores are called nectarivores.
★ Xylophages are herbivores that eat wood.
★ Grazers are herbivores who depend on grass.
★ Two ways herbivores digest their food are through foregut
fermentation and hindgut fermentation.
★ Animals with multiple chambers digest their food through foregut
fermentation, while animals with single-chambered stomachs
process their food through hindgut fermentation.
★ Herbivores such as cows and kangaroos are foregut fermenters,
while horses and elephants fall under the hindgut fermenters.
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Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts
Examples of Herbivores:

Goat Tortoise Koala Zebra

Carnivores

★ Carnivores are animals that consume meat or animal flesh.

★ They hunt their prey to survive, and they are also referred to as
predators.
★ Carnivores that consume herbivores are secondary consumers
and are usually placed third in the energy pyramid.
★ Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary
consumers and are at the fourth level of the energy pyramid.
★ Their bodies and characteristics are suitable for hunting.
★ However, some carnivores do not hunt and depend on dead or
decaying animals for food.
★ These animals are called scavengers.
★ Carnivores who can only consume meat to survive are called
obligate carnivores and they cannot digest plants properly.
★ An example of animal under this category is a cat.
★ There are three distinctions of carnivores based on the meat
that they eat.
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 Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts
★ Hypercarnivores have a 70 percent meat diet.
★ The rest of their energy is covered by consuming plants, fungi,
and other nutrients.
★ All obligate carnivores are considered hypercarnivores.
★ Carnivores that consume 50 percent meat on their diet are
called mesocarnivores.
★ To fill their energy, they can consume fungi, fruits, and
vegetables.
★ Carnivores who consume less than 30 percent of meat are
called hypocarnivores.
★ They also consume fish, berries, nuts, roots, and bulbs.
★ Some hypocarnivores are also considered omnivores, and the
most common example is a bear.
Examples of Carnivores:

Leopard Polar Bears Wolf Lion

Omnivores
★ Omnivores are animals who consume both plants and animals.
★ Although they eat plants, they cannot eat all types of them.
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 Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts
Examples of Omnivores:

Ostrich Pig Hedgehog Dog

★ Omnivores are animals who consume both plants and animals.

★ Although they eat plants, they cannot eat all types of them.
★ Humans are also considered omnivores.
★ Omnivores are very adaptable in finding food in different places.
★ Some omnivores are also scavengers.
★ Like carnivores, omnivores are called secondary consumers.
★ They are also in the third trophic level in the energy pyramid.
★ Omnivores are believed to have better chances of living due to
their diet.

Trophic Levels

★ In an ecological pyramid or
food chain, the feeding
position of organisms known
as the trophic levels are
represented.
A simple illustration showing the trophic
levels KIDSKONNECT.COM
Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts
★ The higher the trophic level, the lower energy they can get
because organisms at the next level can only consume ten
percent of the energy from the previous level.
★ It has two main categories, which are the autotrophs and the
heterotrophs.
★ Autotrophs can produce their food from inorganic materials
thus, often called producers.
★ Heterotrophs are organisms who depend on their energy by
consuming other plants and animals.

Characteristics of Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores

Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore
Their teeth have Their teeth are Their teeth have
structures for structured for ripping, variation which is a
chewing, cutting, and catching, and killing mixture of the teeth of
biting. their prey. herbivores and
carnivores.

They have carnassial Their canines are for

They have no canines.
teeth. tearing food, while
their molars are for
TEETH grinding.
STRUCTURE
Their molars and They have flat,
premolars are uneven molars and
flat-surfaced and premolars, and
grow continuously. pointed incisors.

Their teeth is strong

They cannot simply
enough to allow them
move their jaws from
to pull plants from the
side to side.
ground.
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Herbivores, Carnivores, and
Omnivores Facts
Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore
Plants have myriad They are strong,
defenses that quick, and have sharp Some omnivores are
herbivores must senses suitable for scavengers, while
overcome to feed hunting. some hunt for food.
themselves.

Omnivores cannot
OBTAINING digest all kinds of
FOOD Herbivores have three
plants but only the
strategies to counter
fruit-bearing ones.
the plant’s defense:
choice, herbivore
modification, and
plant modification.

Their digestive The digestive process

Some herbivores have
system is short of omnivores is
multiple chambers in
because they do not somewhat in the
the stomach that help
consume plants that middle of herbivores
with their digestion.
are hard to digest. and carnivores.

These kinds of They have one or

herbivores are called When they put food in more chambers and a
ruminants, and they their mouth, they can limited capacity to
have rumen or first instantly digest their digest some plants;
stomach where they food due to their They have a digestive
DIGESTIVE can store their food acidic saliva. tract specialized for
SYSTEM waiting for digestion. their kind.

Due to their alkaline

Materials that cannot
saliva, they cannot
be processed through
digest their food
digestion leave their
immediately and must
bodies as waste.
go through
preparation.

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Name: ________________________________

Classify and Illustrate

Practice what you’ve learned. Inside the boxes,
draw a leaf if the animal is an herbivore, meat if it
is a carnivore, and a leaf and meat if the given is
an omnivore.

Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore

rabbit cheetah

goat chipmunk

giant panda squirrel

sloth eagle

kangaroo owl

rhinoceros deer

hyena leopard

hippopotamus camel

skunk donkey

hedgehog cat

elephant crow

Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores Worksheets KIDSKONNECT.COM

 Classify and Illustrate
Answer Key

Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore

rabbit cheetah

goat chipmunk

giant panda squirrel

sloth eagle

kangaroo owl

rhinoceros deer

hyena leopard

hippopotamus camel

skunk donkey

hedgehog cat

elephant crow

Herbivores, Carnivores, and Omnivores Worksheets KIDSKONNECT.COM

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