a. [f. Gr. ζῴον animal + -φάγος - eating: see -PHAGOUS.] Feeding on animals; carnivorous; belonging to the Zoophaga, a name for various groups of animals: opp. to PHYTOPHAGOUS. So Zoophagan a. and sb.
1842. Brande, Dict. Sci., etc., *Zoophagans … the order of Unguiculate Mammals which live on animal food,… also the corresponding group of the Marsupial Quadrupeds.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xvi. 70. *Zoophagous animals, or those which attack and devour living animals.
1839. Owen, in Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond., Ser. II. VI. 72. The true or zoophagous Cetacea.
1881. Nature, 3 Feb., 324/1. The countless host of animals that inhabit the depths of the ocean, all of which are necessarily zoophagous.
