A desert predator needs both prey and a way to avoid excessive heat and water loss. These examples show why eating other animals does not always mean an exclusively meat-based diet:
- Sand cat: a carnivore that catches small rodents, reptiles and other prey. It hunts mainly at night or around twilight, using sensitive hearing to locate animals beneath the surface. Moisture in prey reduces its need to drink.
- Fennec fox: a desert hunter that eats insects, rodents, lizards and eggs, but also fruit, roots and leaves. Its diet is omnivorous, even though it belongs to the mammal order Carnivora.
- Greater roadrunner: a ground-hunting bird that catches lizards, insects and small mammals. It also eats some plant material, so it is another example of an omnivorous predator.
- Thorny devil: an Australian lizard specialized for eating ants. Small invertebrates can support desert predators as well as larger vertebrate prey can.
The Smithsonian's sand cat and fennec fox accounts document that dietary contrast. Compare their profiles with the broader carnivore and omnivore collections.