ABSTRACT
Nutrition is vital to the survival of vertebrates as it entails provision of nutrients that are necessary for the complex metabolic processes performed and also provides the building blocks for body compounds and as a result vertebrates are heterotrophs. Ingested material is normally in a form that cannot cross the cell membrane of the digestive system and has to undergo some form of digestion before absorption occurs. The energy content of foodstuffs and the rate at which vertebrates feed varies considerably. Some small birds and mammals have to eat almost continuously to maintain their high metabolic rates whereas some snakes such as large rattlesnakes feed a few times in a year. Vertebrates have evolved diverse feeding habits with certain groups feeding on a variety of foodstuffs whereas others show extreme specialization such as the koala that feeds only on a few species of the plant Eucalyptus.
