Frugivore, Insectivore, What?There are many terms unique to animal nutrition that range from extremely important to frivolous. Having a strong grasp on these terms will help one to understand everything from forum postings to scientific papers better.
In fact, common misunderstanding of the term "frugivore" lead to crested geckos not being widely kept in captivity until a commercial diet was available. |
As Fed Basis |
This term refers to the nutritional content of a food exactly as fed, including moisture. Much of animal nutrition is done on a "dry matter basis" to be able to compare foods more easily.
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Browser |
This is a feeding strategy of herbivores meaning that they eat leaves rather than grasses.
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By-Product |
Often the word "by-product" will be listed in the ingredients of a pet food. This just means that the ingredient is a by-product of some other food. For example, organ meat can be a by-product of beef production and is called "meat by-product." The term "by-product" itself isn't bad, but it is often used as a catch all in order to hide the true nature of the ingredients used in a commercial food.
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Carnivore |
Carnivore means that an animal eats animals. "Carnivore" is often used to mean an animal that eats exclusively vertebrates (think cats), but can technically include a wide range of feeding strategies. It includes: insectivores, piscivores, obligate carnivores and facultative carnivores.
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Crude
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This term appears on the guaranteed nutrient analysis on pet food labels. It refers to specific nutrient testing methods legally required to analyze pet food. These methods are cost-effective, but not very accurate. For example shark meat has a crude protein content of over 100% due to its high nitrogen content. Generally though, it is okay to simply ignore the word "crude" on pet food labels for protein and fat. Crude fiber is very different than other fiber measurements, but a rule of thumb is that it is equivalent to 2/3 the amount of acid detergent fiber (another fiber testing method).
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Dry Matter Basis |
Most nutritional information of feed ingredients is written on a dry matter basis. This excludes the water content of the food from all calculations. This way a high moisture ingredient and a low moisture ingredient can be compared easily. The nutrient requirements of animals are almost always written on a dry matter basis. To convert as fed basis to dry matter basis the following formula can be used: (100 x as fed nutrient %) / (100-moisture %)= dry matter nutrient %
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Facultative |
This is simply a fancy nutritional term for "optional." It is most commonly used as "facultative carnivore," which means that an animal can eat meat, but does not have to. Dogs are an example of a facultative carnivore. There are no nutrients needed from meat that do not occur in plants.
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Fermenter |
A fermenter is a common type of herbivore. These animals have special adaptations so that bacteria can help digest their food. A common example of a fermenter is a cow, as it has a rumen (extra stomach). Almost all herbivorous reptiles are hind gut fermenters, meaning that their digestive system has adapted so that the intestines will allow bacteria to extensively digest food.
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Frugivore |
Strictly speaking a frugivore means an animal that eats fruit. It does NOT mean an animal that eats exclusively fruit. All frugivores supplement their diet with other foods. In the case of crested geckos this would be insects. Domesticated fruit that can be bought in a grocery store have very little nutritional similarity to the wild fruit that frugivores have adapted to. Captive frugivores must have extensive supplementation in their diet for two reasons: domestic fruit is not healthy compared to wild fruit and there are no exclusively frugivorous animals.
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Granivore |
This is the term for an animal that eats nuts and seeds. Most commonly granivores are song birds.
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Grazer |
This is a feeding strategy of herbivores meaning that they eat grasses rather than leaves.
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Herbivore |
Herbivore means that an animal eats plants. "Herbivore" is often used to mean an animal that eats exclusively plants (think horses), but can technically include a wide range of feeding strategies. It includes: browsers, grazers, frugivores, obligate herbivores and facultative herbivores.
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Insectivore |
This is the term for an animal that eats insects. It almost always refers to an animal that eats exclusively insects.
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Obligate |
This is simply a fancy nutritional term for "mandatory." It is most commonly used as "obligate carnivore," which means that an animal must eat meat. Cats are an example of an obligate carnivore. There are nutrients needed from meat that do not occur in plants, such as retinol, taurine and arachidonic acid.
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Omnivore |
Omnivore means that the animal eats both plants and animals. Sometimes it is used to mean that an animal can survive on exclusively plant or exclusively animal foods, dogs, for example. Omnivore does not always mean this. For example, a bearded dragon is commonly referred to as an omnivore because it eats vegetables and insects, but a bearded dragon could not survive on insects or vegetables alone.
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Piscivore |
A piscivore is a type of animal that eats fish, but not necessarily only fish. A bear can correctly be referred to as an omnivore, carnivore and a piscivore.
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