UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
How do animals get their energy?
Question Date: 2015-10-01
Answer 1:

All animals get their energy from eating other living things. There are carnivores that eat other animals, herbivores that eat plants, omnivores that eat plants and animals, and parasites which eat from their host without killing it.

For most all animals, their energy ultimately comes from the sun because plants get their energy from the sun. Since some animals eat plants and some animals eat animals that have eaten plants, they indirectly get their energy from the sun. The exception to this rule is animals deep in the ocean near hydrothermal vents which get their energy from eating bacteria. These hydrothermal bacteria get their energy from chemicals in the vent rather than sunlight.

So animals get their energy from eating other living things and most of them get their energy indirectly from the sun.



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use