How does food help animals survive?

Answer 1

How Animals Get Their Food

All animals need food. No matter where an animal lives, finding food is an important work it must do in order to survive. However, different animals differ in the food they eat. They also differ in the way they get their food.

How do animals get their food? What body parts do they use to get their food? What do animals eat by the appearance of their mouthparts?

Some small animals that live in water do not move about. They are attached to some solid objects in the water. Some of these animals have mouths that are surrounded by tiny hairs. The tiny hairs sweep food particles into the mouth. The food are microorganisms that float in water.

Other animals have tentacles around their mouths. These tentacles push food into the mouth.

Many insects like butterflies and moths have a tubelike mouthpart called the proboscis with which they suck nectar from flowers. Mosquitoes suck plant juice also with their proboscis.

Small birds catch flying insects with their short bills. A hummingbird has a long bill that can get nectar inside a flower. The large hooked beak of a parrot can crack nutshells. Some birds have beaks that contain sieve which strains tiny shelled animals out of the water.

Some birds catch their prey with their strong sharp claws.

Some kinds of owl hunt for food at night. These owls have a very keen sense of hearing. If a mouse is around, the owl can determine exactly where it is by the noise it makes. Then it swoops down and catches the mouse with its sharp claws and eats it.

Bats also hunt for food at night. Some of them eat fruits. Others eat insects or fish. They cannot see in the dark, but they use the echoes of their cries to know where their prey is.

Turtles have no teeth, but they have a beak with a sharp edge which they use for cutting food. Some have strong jaws with which they capture their prey. Turtles eat plants and animals.

Frogs have tongues that can move fast and catch insects.

Some Spiders spin webs. These spiders wait for insects to be trapped in their webs. As soon as an insect is trapped in a web, the spider grabs it and sucks the juice from it. Spiders that do not spin webs but catch insects with their legs. Other spiders catch mice and fish by paralyzing them with a bite.

Some fish feed on plants, while others feed on animals. Some fish have teeth; others have none. The shark has strong jaws and triangular teeth which bite into its prey. A piranha can tear its prey to pieces with its razor sharp teeth.

A lamprey has a slitlike mouth. It has sharp teeth which it uses to eat the insides of dead fish.

Some fish can leap from the water to grab an insect or a plant near the water.

Oysters, clams and mussels use their gills for feeding. A kind of snail, the cone shell, uses poison to paralyze its prey. Then it opens its mouth to swallow the animal.

Many animals have special kinds of teeth. Some teeth are for biting and tearing, while others are for grinding. Dogs, cats, lions, tigers and wolves have pointed canines, They use these teeth for ripping and tearing their prey to pieces. They use their molars for grinding the meat.

Snakes swallow their prey whole. They have teeth that curve back toward the throat. They use their teeth to pull the prey back to the throat.

Carabaos, cows, horses, sheep and giraffes have broad, flat molars. They use their molars to chew and MASH plants.

Answer 2

They dried, smoked, or salted food to keep it good. This was true with meat, but fresh vegetables and fruit had to be eaten or dried . Some root cellars were used. George Washington had three types of cellars to keep ice cream in.

Answer 3

Food helps every living things survive. We would die without food because it has nutrients necessary for our survival.

Answer 4

They hide it away, store it inside of them, buried it in the ground or in the snow.