Heterotrophic Nutrition
Each organism is adapted to its environment. The form of nutrition differs depending on the type and availability of food material as well as how it is obtained by the organism. For example, whether the food source is stationary (such as grass) or mobile (such as a deer), would allow for differences in how the food is accessed and what is the nutritive apparatus used by a cow and a lion. There is a range of strategies by which the food is taken in and used by the organism. Some organisms break-down the food material outside the body and then absorb it. Examples are fungi like bread moulds, yeast, and mushrooms. Others take in whole material and break it down inside their bodies. What can be taken in and broken down depends on body design and functioning. Some other organisms derive nutrition from plants or animals without killing them. This parasitic nutritive strategy is used by a wide variety of organisms like Cuscuta (Amar-bel), ticks, lice, leeches, and tapeworms.