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a word for an animal that does not hunt other animals?
Not the word prey. Prey is defined as something being hunted by a predator. Thre are plenty of predators that are also prey. Is there a word, sorta like predator, for the classification of animals that do not hunt and catch other animals, the opposite set of animals to predators. this can include animals that scavenge as they eat dead animals but don't hunt, not just herbivores.
I understand the difficulties, but there is a word "predator" and the opposite of it is not "prey"
scavenger is not right. that only includes carnivores that don't catch and kill other animals. I want to know the classification of animals that don't kill other animals, that would include scavengers, herbivores, etc, We have a classification of animals that catch other other animals to eat, there should be a classification for the opposite set.
5 Answers
- 8 years agoFavorite Answer
Actually there is no single-word term for the classification you want - animals are defined firstly as meat-eaters or non meat-eaters, then those that catch live prey and those that do not:
Predator defines a group of carnivores that hunt live prey.
Scavenger defines a group of carnivores that do not hunt live prey.
Herbivore defines a group of non-carnivores.
(Omnivore defines a group of animals that is not exclusively a carnivore or a herbivore.)
There is no term that combines scavenging meat-eaters with herbivores as the nutritional biology and behaviour of these types of animals are so different.
As you said, even predators can be prey, so you are looking to coin a new term for an animal that displays non-predatory behaviour.
- 8 years ago
Scavenger. It does not hunt other animals, but feeds from the dead organism that has been hunted by another predator.
- Dr RedthumbLv 78 years ago
that's kind of difficult given your criteria, because they are actually called prey animals.
animals can be herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, scavangers, and also be prey, the different classifications are not mutually exclusive.
- Anonymous8 years ago
Dead
Hunted :D
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