Question

What are consumers? Give their classification.

Answer 1

Consumers

1. Consumers are those organisms which cannot make their own food.
2. Consumers depend directly or indirectly on producers for nutrition. They are called heterotrophs.
3. Examples - animals like elephant, lion, human beings, etc.

Classification of consumers:

1. Primary consumers or herbivores - They are the animals that eat only plants. Examples include cow, deer, rabbit and elephant.
2. Secondary consumers or carnivores - They are the animals that eat only plants which eat primary consumers. Examples include snake, tiger, fox and lion.
3. Tertiary consumers-They are the animals which eat secondary consumers. Examples- a hawk which feed on snakes
4. Omnivores - They are the animals which eat both plants and animals. Examples include crow, cockroach, bear and human beings.
5. Scavengers - They are the animals which feed on dead bodies of other animals. Examples include vulture and hyena.