A secondary carnivore, such as a cheetah, feeds on primary carnivores. Both herbivores and carnivores are consumers they obtain energy by consuming living things via a predator and prey relationship. Using Ngorongoro as an example, grass, a producer, is eaten by a gazelle a herbivore consumer. The gazelle in turn becomes prey and is eaten by a cheetah, a carnivore and another consumer. And circling high above the gorging cheetah, waiting for its chance to eat, glides a vulture yet another type of consumer a scavenger.
Scavengers are animals that feed on carrion, the dead flesh of animals, prey, caught by predators.
Although generally despised by most human beings, scavengers are vitally important to an ecosystem because they clean it up by removing organic garbage. Scavengers are found throughout the animal kingdom. After scavengers have eaten their fill of dead organic material, the gazelle, decomposers have a turn feasting. There are two types of decomposers, macrodecomposers and microdecomposers. Macrodecomposers are primarily earthworms and insect larvae.