15 Well-Known Animals That Are Omnivores

Written by Niccoy Walker
Updated: April 24, 2023
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An omnivore is an animal that consumes both plant and animal material. Humans are the most well-known omnivores because we obtain energy from plants and animals.

Hamburgers are one of the best examples of an omnivorous diet. They contain beef but also tomatoes and lettuce.

But humans also differ from most animals due to each individual’s ability to decide their own diet. And omnivorous animals can also be placed into sub-categories. For instance, some species primarily eat fruit, while others mainly consume insects, supplementing with seeds and grains. Discover 15 well-known animals that are omnivores and learn about their unique diets.

Pigs

pig

Many pigs live on farms, where they graze vegetation.

©Chumash Maxim/Shutterstock.com

Pigs are naturally omnivores. In the wild, they spend much of their time foraging for plants, like bulbs, leaves, and roots. But they will also eat insects, worms, rodents, rabbits, small reptiles, and amphibians. On occasion, they can even eat carrion (dead animals). But many pigs live on farms, where they are fed a diet of corn, soy, wheat, and barley. Those raised in captivity don’t have to worry too much about finding food. But on their own, they rely on their keen sense of smell, using their snout to root around for the nearest food source.

Bears

Brown bear eating a pink salmon

Bears eat a varied diet but get most of their dietary needs from plant matter. They also eat fish, insects, birds, and small mammals.

©iStock.com/Mark Kostich

For such a big creature, you would think a bear would be a monstrous carnivore. But they are actually omnivores. And surprisingly, 80 to 90% of their diet consists of plant matter. They eat berries, nuts, grasses, shoots, leaves, and grains. But they also consume fish, insects, birds, small mammals, deer, moose, and carcasses. They have a well-developed sense of smell and use their noses to find a food source. They especially like to search for pockets of greenery, such as wet meadows, areas along rivers and streams, or even golf courses!

Raccoons

Raccoon eat - eating egg

The raccoon consumes many food items, such as eggs, fruits, nuts, fish, rodents, birds, and carrion.

©iStock.com/Edwin_Butter

Raccoons are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they will eat whatever is available and convenient. They consume many items, such as fruits, nuts, insects, fish, grains, rodents, small mammals, birds, turtles, eggs, and carrion. They are also notorious for rooting around residential and city trash cans, eating everything from spoiled human food to the rats running around the dumpster. However, these animals prefer living next to a water source, where they can easily dine on fish, insects, and amphibians.

Coyotes

Do Coyotes Hunt in Packs

Coyotes will sometimes hunt in packs to take down larger prey, such as deer.

©FRAYN/Shutterstock.com

Similar to raccoons, coyotes will eat just about anything. These omnivores consume a large variety of foods, including insects, rabbits, deer, garden produce, amphibians, fish, reptiles, birds, sheep, bison, moose, and even the carcasses of other coyotes. While they are technically omnivorous, about 90% of their diet consists of meat. The other 10% goes to foraging for fruits, grasses, vegetables, and grains. They hunt alone and stalk their prey when along. But they hunt in packs to take down larger animals like deer.

Chipmunks

A Chipmunk's Cheeks are Filled with Peanuts

Chipmunks consume nuts, seeds, leaves, mushrooms, insects, worms, frogs, mice, and birds.

©Fiona M. Donnelly/Shutterstock.com

Chipmunks are widely known for their propensity to consume large quantities of nuts, storing them in their big, round cheeks. But they actually have a varied diet. The chipmunk eats nuts, seeds, grains, leaves, mushrooms, fruits, slugs, worms, insects, snails, butterflies, frogs, mice, birds, and eggs. They search for food on the ground by carefully combing underbrush, rocks, and logs. These areas also provide protection from predators, so they can search for food uninterrupted.

Cockroaches

What do Cockroaches Eat

The

cockroach

is a common pest that eats pretty much everything. But they especially like starchy, sugary, and greasy foods.

©iStock.com/RHJ

Cockroaches are another animal that will eat pretty much anything, which is why they are one of the most common household pests. Their favorite foods are starchy, sweet, or greasy, but they will settle for whatever is lying around. Cockroaches eat rotting fruit and vegetables, any kind of meat, dead leaves, twigs, feces, and anything with sugar and starch. Roaches, in the absence of regular food, will also consume paper, hair, and decaying plants. 

Crows

A crow on the ground eating the remains of a dead rat.

Crows eat everything from seeds and fruits to small reptiles and baby birds.

©iStock.com/Nigel Harris

Around one-third of a crow’s diet comes from seeds and fruits. But they are not picky eaters and will consume what is readily available. They eat rodents, baby birds, eggs, small reptiles, insects, amphibians, seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, and carrion. Crows use their olfactory system, like many animals, to find food. But they are also extremely resourceful and can use tools, like sticks, to seek food. They may even wade in the water to snatch swimming prey.

Monkeys

Monkey eating

Monkeys don’t only eat bananas, they also eat other fruits, leaves, nuts, insects, birds, and rabbits.

©Arnav Pratap Singh/Shutterstock.com

Most monkeys are omnivores that spend much of their time foraging for a variety of foods. Contrary to what cartoons depict, monkeys don’t only eat bananas. They also eat other fruits, leaves, nuts, seeds, flowers, insects, grass, birds, antelope, and rabbits. They forage in trees for vegetation and termites, using sticks or their dexterous hands to hold tools and grip food. They can also hunt and kill larger prey, using their muscular arms and sharp teeth.

Ostriches

What do ostriches eat

The ostrich primarily eats plant matter but they also consume small animals, like lizards and snakes.

©NileshShah/Shutterstock.com

Ostriches primarily eat plant matter but will also consume animals. Their diet consists of seeds, roots, plants, fruits, beans, insects, lizards, snakes, rodents, carrion, and other small creatures. They also swallow pebbles and small stones to aid in digestion. They live mainly on vegetation, foraging around their habitats. But they will eat animals that come across their path. They use their large feet with sharp, thick claws to capture and kill their prey.

Turtles

Pet Turtle Eating Lettuce-Header

Turtles eat leafy greens, insects, slugs, amphibians, and aquatic vegetation.

©JGA/Shutterstock.com

Turtles and tortoises in the wild eat a varied omnivorous diet. They consume fruit, leafy greens, fungi, grains, insects, snails, slugs, worms, amphibians, fish, crustaceans, and aquatic vegetation. Turtles have an excellent sense of smell and can feel vibrations and changes in the water to help them find food. As they move slowly through their habitats, they forage on the vegetation and animals around them.

Badgers

80% of the badger’s diet consists of

earthworms

. But they also eat rodents, fruits, snakes, seeds, and frogs.

©Erwin Niemand/Shutterstock.com

While badgers are considered omnivores, 80% of their diet is comprised of earthworms. These feisty mammals can eat hundreds of earthworms in one night. But they also eat rodents, fruits, bulbs, snakes, slugs, insects, frogs, lizards, seeds, berries, and bird’s eggs. Badgers use their long, sharp claws to dig up worms, rodents, and insects. They may even plug up rodent holes to force them out of hiding.

Catfishes

What do catfish eat - catfish feeding

Catfish

open their mouths wide and suction their prey inside.

©Rostislav Stefanek/Shutterstock.com

The catfish is an opportunistic feeder, eating anything big enough to fit in its wide mouth. They primarily consume other fish, aquatic plants, seeds, mollusks, larvae, insects, crustaceans, algae, frogs, and dead fish remains. Catfish find food through smells and vibrations in the water. Once they get near a food source, they move their whiskers back and forth until they touch something. They then open their mouths wide and suction their prey inside.

Civets

civet

Luwak (civet cat) eating coffee bean : Luwak Coffee is the world most expensive coffee

©AKKHARAT JARUSILAWONG/Shutterstock.com

Civets are small nocturnal mammals native to tropical rainforests in Asia and Africa. Like most wild omnivores, the civet eats whatever it can find. Their main diet includes rodents, lizards, birds, eggs, carrion, snakes, frogs, crabs, insects, fruits, flowers, coffee beans, and vegetation. They hunt and forage at night. They stalk their prey before pouncing and shaking it until it’s subdued.

Peacocks

Indian peacock, showing its plumage from a hilltop, Sri Lanka, India. Peacock male, exotic blue and green bird from India. Peacock in the heights

Peacocks eat many foods, such as insects, grains, berries, seeds, and small mammals.

©Perpis/Shutterstock.com

The peacock, or peafowl, forages for a variety of food on the ground. They eat insects, grains, plants, reptiles, berries, seeds, flowers, fruits, and small mammals. In captivity, they eat commercial pheasant pellets. Peafowl has excellent vision and hearing, which they use to locate their food source on the ground before using their beak to pluck vegetation or capture animals.

Rats

pet rat in cage eating cookie

Rats are opportunistic, eating what they can find, including berries, fruits, seeds, vegetables, insects, small animals, and human garbage.

©iStock.com/Argument

Fruits and berries are a rat’s favorite food. They are often attracted to berry bushes and fruit trees. But they also consume seeds, nuts, grains, vegetables, insects, small mammals, lizards, and fish. Rats follow their noses to find a food source, and they are very good at it, even sniffing food through walls and closed doors. You can often find city rats near or inside dumpsters, where they feed on rotting food.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/dutourdumonde


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About the Author

Niccoy is a professional writer for A-Z Animals, and her primary focus is on birds, travel, and interesting facts of all kinds. Niccoy has been writing and researching about travel, nature, wildlife, and business for several years and holds a business degree from Metropolitan State University in Denver. A resident of Florida, Niccoy enjoys hiking, cooking, reading, and spending time at the beach.

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