Season 5: Foraging and Diet

Sometimes, you need a little bit of help to get a meal. Maybe your prey live in holes that are too small for you to follow in, or have a hard shell that is difficult to break. Certain species have gotten around these obstacles by incorporating tools into their foraging behavior.

It is said that good artists borrow and great artists steal. But they aren't the only ones. A wide variety of animals have developed behaviors for stealing food instead of getting it themselves.

Water birds have developed a variety of foraging behaviors, each of them suited for the particular diet they target. Just by watching which one a species uses, it can tell you a wealth of information about what it eats, where it lives, and how it moves and flies.

A single species will not always have the same kind of diet for its entire lifetime. The needs of an individual shift as it develops and this can lead to changes in diet preferences as it ages. Some of these shifts are small, and others span entirely different food types.

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.