What do you call an animal that consumes ready-made food and does not produce its own?

An animal that consumes ready-made food and does not produce its own is referred to as a consumer. Consumers are organisms that rely on other organisms for their nutrition, meaning they cannot synthesize their own food through processes like photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

In ecological terms, consumers are divided into different categories based on their diet. For example, herbivores consume plant material, carnivores consume other animals, and omnivores eat both plants and animals. Regardless of their specific diet, all of these organisms fall under the broader category of consumers because they obtain energy and nutrients by consuming other living or once-living organisms.

In contrast, autotrophs are organisms, such as plants and some bacteria, that produce their own food through processes like photosynthesis. Producers refer specifically to these autotrophic organisms in an ecosystem. Herbivores, while a type of consumer, specifically consume plant matter and do not encompass the entire range of organisms that fit the definition of consumers. Thus, the classification of an animal that consumes ready-made food points unequivocally to the term 'consumer.'