Grouping Animals

We can look at what animals eat and put them into three groups. This is a natural way to group animals. Plant eaters are herbivores, meat eaters are carnivores, and animals that eat both plants and meat are omnivores.

Herbivores: We can classify any animal that eats only plants as an herbivore. Can we say those animals are small because they don’t eat meat? No. Rabbits, snails and butterflies are good examples of small herbivores, but horses, cows, zebras, deer and elephants are herbivores, too.

Carnivores: We can classify any animal that eats only meat as a carnivore. Carnivores often have sharper teeth or even fangs. Carnivores can be in different sizes. Small carnivores are spiders, frogs and bats. Medium-size carnivores are birds, such as eagles and snakes. Large carnivores are wild dogs, wolves, lions, tigers or crocodiles.

Omnivores: We can classify any animal that can eat both plants and meat as an omnivore. People are omnivores. They often eat meat, fruit and vegetables. Bears are omnivores because they eat both berries and meat. Medium-size omnivores are raccoons, pigs and chickens.