Quaternary Consumer

Quaternary consumers primarily feed on tertiary and secondary consumers. They are thus found above the tertiary consumers in a food chain. However, some feed on producers, such as humans, and are omnivores.

In this terrestrial food chain, the hawk is the quaternary consumer that feeds on snakes, the tertiary consumer. It also happens to be the apex predator of the food chain.

Similarly, in the ocean food chain, large sharks are the quaternary consumers that feed on smaller sharks, the tertiary producer.

Like the food chain above, the hawk is the quaternary consumer and the apex predator in this food web. However, owl functions as secondary and tertiary consumers in the food chain, and the fox is the secondary consumer. In both cases, owl and fox are the apex consumers.

Since quaternary consumers reside at the top of the food chain, they are larger animals than other trophic levels. Being more prominent, they need much food to survive. There is always a need for more food count than the predator count in a food chain to sustain the predator. Therefore, they are rare.

They also receive the least amount of the original energy absorbed by the plants, as 10% of the energy is lost in each successive trophic level of the energy pyramid. For this reason, higher-level consumers must eat large quantities of food to stay alive.

Some other typical quaternary consumers found in different terrestrial and aquatic food chains are listed:

• Eagles
• Lions
• Tigers
• Polar bears
• Sharks
• Crocodiles
• Sharks
• Large whales