Derek de Witt

What would this majestic moustachioed walrus like to eat? And how would it go about it? If you know your Lewis Carroll (or Disney classics), you might have a decent guess.

Some species get their food while performing an important ecosystem service. Breaking down dead and decaying material can reduce disease transmission and return nutrients back into the system. One such animal is a brightly colored slug named after a yellow fruit.

Sponges have several defenses that make them an uncommon food source in a coral reef environment. However, there are a few species they will consume them, and even focus on them as the primary aspect of their diet.

Major ecological changes can cause a shift in diet and foraging behaviors. This is the case for the koala, a native of Australia with highly specialized diet. Eucalyptus is not necessarily an ideal food source, but climatic changes made it much more abundant, making it a viable option.

Some feeding strategies can seem more passive than others. Filter feeding seems like easy-mode, but it can actually be much more complex, especially because it still costs energy to perform.

Powered flight is one of the strongest adaptations that has ever occurred. It has advantages on both defense and offense against animals that are only able to travel on the ground. But some cats have developed ways to go after flying animals, adding them to their diet.

Some diet choices can seem a bit bizarre, or even counterintuitive. Certain animals will even eat non-nutritious substances. What reason could there be for such a behavior?

Because of their isolated nature, islands are hotbeds of evolutionary change. One of the most celebrated examples of speciation to adapt to different diets is the finches of the Galapagos Islands, described by Charles Darwin in 'On the Origin of Species'.

The diet of each organism has developed over millions of years of evolution and a relationship between it and its environment. A variety of strategies and diets exist and we'll be covering some of the most interesting ones.

We've seen organisms that mimic other species and those that mimic their own, but we're finishing up with a defensive strategy of mimicking oneself, making one part of the body look like a different part.