Omnivores (from Latin: omni all, everything; vorare to devour) are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source. They are opportunistic, general feeders not specifically adapted to eat and digest either meat or plant material primarily.
Omnivory has evolved several times among different groups of animals. The first vertebrates were piscivores, then insectivores, carnivores and finally herbivores.[1] A complex set of adaptations was necessary for feeding on highly fibrous plant materials, requiring structural modifications to the teeth, jaws, and digestive tract. Only a small proportion of extant tetrapods are obligate herbivores; many carnivores also consume low-fiber plant material as well as insects and fish, so it could be that early tetrapods made the transition to fully fledged herbivory by way of omnivory.
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