Omnivore (Omnivorous Animal)

Omnivores are animals that regularly eat both plant-derived and animal-derived foods as part of their normal diet. They may also consume fungi, detritus, or microbes, with the proportions of each dietary component varying by their species, habitat, season, or life stage.¹

Their plant-derived foods typically include fruits, seeds, nuts, leaves, roots, nectar, and grains, while their animal-derived foods can include insects, eggs, larvae, fish, small vertebrates, and carrion.

An animal is considered an omnivore only if it consumes both plant-derived and animal-derived foods as a regular, meaningful part of its diet. This is what separates omnivores from other feeding types, such as herbivores and carnivores.

Feeding Type	Primary Food Source
Omnivore	Both plant and animal matter
Herbivore	Living plants or algae
Carnivore	Animal prey
Detritivore	Dead or decaying organic matter

Types and Examples

In omnivores, the balance between plant and animal matter is not equal. Based on their dependence levels on plants and animals, they are grouped into 3 types:

• Plant-feeding Omnivores – They tend to have plant-heavy diets.
• Animal-feeding Omnivores – They tend to have animal-heavy diets.
• Generalist Omnivores – They tend to eat a broad mix of both plant and animal matter.

In many omnivores, these dietary patterns are also opportunistic or seasonal, meaning they can switch their diet depending on which resources are easiest to find at a particular time of year.

Although omnivores can feed on a wide variety of sources, they are usually not specialized for a particular food type. While a specialist herbivore can handle tough plant material, or a specialist carnivore may be better at catching and killing animal prey, omnivores lie in between the two in terms of efficiency.

Since these animals feed at different trophic levels,² they affect several components of the ecosystem at once. While plant-feeding omnivores considerably affect plant communities, those that lean toward animals can affect prey populations.³ Additionally, those that scavenge on carrion contribute to the recycling of nutrients in the environment.