#scavengers #ecoystems #ngscience
Scavengers are a unique group of animals that feed on the leftover food of other animals, including people. Head to ngscience.com for a range of related resources for learning in the classroom and at home.

All animals need to eat food to survive. Some are herbivores. That means they eat only plants. They spend much of their day grazing on leaves, fruits and other plant parts.

Others are carnivores. They feed on other animals. They actively search for, chase down and catch their prey.

And other are not too fussy - they're omnivores. They eat both plants or animals depending on what's around.

But there's a fourth group of animals that don't feed on plants or chase down prey. They're SCAVENGERS!

Have you ever eaten leftover pizza the next day? Well that's what scavengers do - they feed on the food left over from other animals.

Well-known scavengers include hyenas, vultures and jackals. You'll also find scavengers in urban environments as the animals adapt their diets to changes in habitat and food availability caused by human activities. Which....sadly, is why this guy is often called a bin chicken down under!

Producers to Decomposers
The organisms in an ecosystem get the energy they need in different ways. Some make food through photosynthesis. Some eat other organisms. Others break down the remains of dead plants and animals. Organisms within an ecosystem can be classified by how they obtain the energy they need to carry out life processes.

An organism that makes food through photosynthesis is called a producer. In most land ecosystems, plants are the main producers. In aquatic ecosystems, microscopic algae called phytoplankton are the main producers. Plants and phytoplankton use light energy from the Sun, carbon dioxide and water to produce food in the form of sugar and oxygen. They obtain the energy they need from the sugar that is produced.

An organism that gets energy by eating other organisms is called a consumer. All animals are consumers. They get the energy they need by feeding on other organisms in the ecosystem.

Animals that eat plants are herbivores. They are primary consumers. They obtain their energy from the plant matter they eat.

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