Diets describe what creatures consume to survive (or don't consume, in the case of Photocarnivores and Photovores). There are a total of 5 different diets in-game.

For information about Legacy diets, see Category:Diets/Legacy

Diets

Currently, there are a variety of diets, such as herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, photovore, and photocarnivore that determine what is required to satisfy a creature's needs to continue surviving.

Types of Food

Edible plants in the game may appear on land as bushes with berries or other types of fruit, which are located on the ground, in trees around the map, or in very shallow waters. Underwater, there are edible palm trees along the sea floor.

Creatures that require meat may either scavenge or kill any other creature for food. Upon killing another creature, a carcass will appear. The size of a creature will typically determine the size of the carcass. A player's carcass may provide more or less than static carcasses.

Sometimes, some rarer kinds of food may be edible by all diets capable of eating, such as eggs or some event food.

All creatures in recode can pick up all types of food regardless of diet, with only a few exceptions (like eggs) requiring of an special ability to be picked up and consumed.

See Basic Gameplay and Food Sources for more information.

Where to Find Food

An easy way to find food is to find static spots with static-spawning food, such as ribs, carcasses, fruits, berries and flora patches located around the map (such spots can be found here), or areas with a large number of creatures where chances of finding a creature-dropped carcass or a creature with the ability to increase spawned food are more common.

Identifying Diet

To identify a creature's diet while playing on the map, either look for the diet symbol on the bottom left of the Creature HUD next-to-the-left to the stomach indicator, or press (K on PC or Menu Actions > ) to open the Creature Info window, which displays a creature's stats. On the bottom left of the window, it will state a creature's diet under the Info section.

• The basic diets are displayed in main menu, and, on a more recent update, the special diets too once the creature species has been selected:
  • (green) require plants and water.
  • (orange) require plants or meat and water.
  • (red) require meat and water.
  • require only water. On recode menu they are yellow. On recode, their carcasses are treated as vegetables and meat.
  • require only meat, displayed yellow on recode in main menu by default. On recode their carcasses are treated as vegetables and meat.

Carnivore

Carnivores^[1] are creatures that eat carcasses in-game. They must usually scavenge or hunt to obtain food, albeit some are capable of snatching eggs. Since carcasses and ribs deplete and rot (the latter does not apply for static carcasses) over time, they eventually have to hunt or move for more scavenge around the map. They can find carcasses by pressing the sniff button (H on PC or on Mobile or Y on Xbox). An orange trace will lead to the nearest compatible food available, while an stomach bubble will highlight each type of food nearby, with an arrow if outside the screen.

• There are currently 167 carnivores (including both Legacy with Recode).

Herbivore

Herbivores^[2] are creatures that eat grass, fruits and berry bushes on land, or seaweed and algae underwater. They must find bushes around the map to feast on, keeping themselves inside the optimal areas for mobility. To find the nearest bushes or underwater plants, you must use the sniff button (H on PC or on Mobile or Y on Xbox). An orange trace will lead to the nearest compatible food available, while an stomach bubble will highlight each type of food nearby, with an arrow if outside the screen.

• There are currently 125 released herbivores.

Omnivore

Omnivores^[3] are creatures that eat plants and meat, and have the option to hunt creatures, scavenge for meat, or search for plants. If one food option is unavailable, they have the perk of being able to eat the other option (and unlike most real-like omnivores, won't get sick or ill if they only eat one source of food). To find the nearest food, use the sniff button (H on PC or on Mobile or Y on Xbox), and the same indicators for herbivore and carnivore will appear.

• There are currently 39 released omnivores.
• On recode, there are very few omnivores, with most of them having switched to carnivore or herbivore.

Photovore

Photovores^[4] are unique because they don’t actually eat, and instead only drink water. However, they lose strength at night, likely because they gain food through sunlight. On recode, they are susceptible to the Day/Night Time Status, strengthening them during daytime and weakening them over night. To find the nearest water source, use the sniff button (H on PC or on Mobile or Y on Xbox).

• There are currently 15 released photovores.
• These creatures tend to be easiest to grow, since water is the most common and reliable source. On the other hand, with a few exceptions, they tend to have lower attack stats and abilities compared with non-photovores.
• Due to how they lack any need to eat (with the stomach indicator practically non-existent), they are immune to any hunger-draining/boosting effect.

Photocarnivore

Photocarnis^[5], short for Photocarnivores, are creatures who eat meat, but do not require water. Like Photovores, they lose strength at night, likely because they need sunlight to produce water, and like them on recode, they are susceptible to the Day/Night Time Status, strengthening them during daytime and weaknening them over night. Due to how they lack any water bar to refill, they are immune to any thirst-draining/boosting effect, for example, some of the effects of consuming rotten meat.

• There are currently 19 photocarnivores in-game.
• Photocarnivores tend to be slightly more difficult to grow than their photovore counterparts basically because their food sources are meat, and that may get them into some battles for food far more frequently than photovores for a water source, and the night debuff may make their younglings more vulnerable and less likely to win, or at least survive, such fights if they get attacked at night.