Question

The frog that feeds on an insect is a
A) Tertiary consumer
B) Decomposer
C) Primary consumer
D) Secondary consumer

Answer 1

Consumers are organisms that obtain their food from the producer organisms. They are also referred to as heterotrophs. They include most animals and certain bacteria and fungi. They can be classified by the type of food that they consume into herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and decomposers.

Complete answer:
-Consumers were previously known as only meat eaters but it was later found that herbivorous animals are also consumers since they depend on plants; the producers for their food. Consumers are classified into primary consumer, secondary consumer and tertiary consumer according to the ecological food chain. The primary consumers are those that feed on plants and are thus herbivores. The secondary consumers are the ones that feed on other animals and are carnivores. Omnivores are also considered as secondary consumers as they can feed on both plants and animals. Tertiary consumers are the ones that feed either on plants or animals entirely. Decomposers are the ones that carry out decomposition of dead organic matter. Coming to the question when the frog feeds on an insect so it is a secondary consumer as it depends on another organism for their source of food.

So the correct answer is (D) Secondary consumer.

Note: Having the knowledge of the feeding habits of different organisms helps us to get an idea about the class of consumer they fall into. This further helps to map their position on the ecological food chain.